Saturday, June 30, 2007

Anniversary: Teen dies, doc blames boyfriend

Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Suddeth underwent an abortion by Frank Robinson on June 30, 1982.

On the drive home, Jennifer bled heavily, alarming her live-in boyfriend, John. John called the clinic repeatedly over the four hours after their return home, but staff would not put the call through to Robinson. One nurse admonished John to "be realistic" about how severely Jennifer was bleeding. By that time, Jennifer had bled through two pairs of sweat pants, two blankets, and a towel. At last the hysterical boyfriend was able to contact Robinson, who insisted that the bleeding was normal and instructed John to stop calling.

When Jennifer went into convulsions, John called an ambulance. Parmedics arrived at the home to find Jennifer already dead. Police interviewed the weeping and hysterical boyfriend, then pressed charges against Robinson for involuntary manslaughter in Jennifer's death. Although Robinson beat the rap, the state of California nevertheless counted Jennifer's death as due to illegal abortion.

Robininson, through his attorney, blamed John Fredzess for Jennifer's death, saying that the young man should have been more concerned about the blood. He also attributed John's weeping when interviewed by the police to fear that he might be arrested for murder for not having done enough to save her.

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