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Sunday, September 30, 2007

Anniversary: Death from a legalized "back alley" abortion

Dr. Joe Bills Reynolds was a jack of all trades, doing a variety of elective surgeries, including abortions, in his filthy clinic. Reynolds' anesthetist, age 60, had originally been hired as a janitor, and an untrained orderly was acting as his nurse. The operating room was littered with dirty cups and papers. Reynolds tried to collect $500,000 on his wife's life insurance after she bled to death after he opened 25-inch incision, ostensibly for liposuction, on September 7, 1989. Reynolds was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter. He voluntarily surrendered his Oklahoma license.

Life Dynamics identified 21-year-old Gaylene Golden on their "Blackmun Wall" as the woman who died after an abortion by Reynolds. LDI put together the following information on Gaylene's death:

  • Reynolds performed the abortion on Gaylene in his Oklahoma City office on September 30, 1985.
  • Due to a cervical laceration, Gaylene developed an embolism -- both air and amniotic fluid in her bloodstream. This embolism killed her.
  • Gaylene left one child, a son, orphaned.

    How Gaylene's abortion, performed by an unsavory quack with untrained staff in a filthy facility, is an improvement on the proverbial "back-alley abortion" eludes me.
  • Saturday, September 29, 2007

    More bad news for Planned Parenthood!

    When a supermodel embraces chastity and young women start to follow her example, things are bad for those who rely upon lots of sexual activity to keep their books in the black.

    Girls who abstain until marriage don't provide a market for contraceptives, pregnancy tests, STD tests, or abortion. Which is lovely for the girls but a bit hard on the bottom line.

    First daughter's first book, UNICEF, and birth in difficult circimstances

    First Daughter Jenna Bush Promotes New Book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, about a Central American teenager, born with HIV, who faces an unplanned pregnancy.

    Jenna has begun to reveal her passion for education and helping the underprivileged. She taught elementary grades at a charter school in Washington, D.C. before going to Central and South America as an intern for UNICEF.


    The work for UNICEF is a bit troubling, since UNICEF has a history of being a bit to the left of NARAL when it comes to plugging abortion for kids. The subject matter of Jenna's book seems to be a bit at odds with UNICEF's previously documented enthusiasm for wanting to see kids like Ana and her child snuffed in-utero. Or has UNICEF changed a lot.

    Does anybody know?

    Two 1923 deaths

    On September 29, 1923, 44-year-old Annie Allison of Brooklyn died at the office of chiropractor Henry Lee Mottard, who practiced under the name of Dr. Henry L. Green. Mottard alleged that Annie had died after an accidental fall down an elevator shaft at the premises. However, Annie's death certificate, signed by another physician, attributed her death to chronic cardiac nephritis.

    In the wake of the autopsy's preliminary findings, Mottard was arrested on suspicion of homicide. The autopsy had shown no broken bones or other injuries consistent with a fatal fall, and therefore showed that Mottard had lied about the circumstances of Annie's death. Police, who were investigating Mottard for his suspected involvement in a kidnap/adoption scheme, were suspicious and had Annie exhumed. It was revealed that she had died from an abortion.

    A Grand Jury questioned Dr. Norris, who had performed the autopsy; one of Annie's friends; the undertaker who buried Annie; Annie's brother; and the owner of the building where Annie had supposedly fallen to her death.

    During the investigation, police searched Mottard's ten-acre farm outside the city for evidence of more bodies after allegations arose that Mottard had also performed an abortion there on a young woman the previous January. Mottard admitted to having performed three abortions in the farmhouse, which was outside Long Island, but denied having performed the fatal one on Annie.

    An operating room and a machine gun were found in the 14-room farmhouse. A second homicide case was filed against Mottard by officials of Suffolk County, where the farm was located. They had evidence that one of Mottard's rural abortion patients had suffered the same fate as Annie Allison.

    On the very same day that Annie died, 18-year-old Mollie Monilson of Chicago died from complications of a criminal abortion. The person or persons responsible for her death were never identified or brought to justice.

    Friday, September 28, 2007

    Abortion victim's mom steps forward



    Operation Rescue West is reporting on the young woman who died from an abortion in Massachusetts this month. Twenty-two-year-old Laura Hope Smith died September 13, 2007, during an abortion perpetrated by Rapin Osathanondh at Women Health Clinic in Hyannis. Her mother, Eileen Smith, fears that Laura's death will be "swept under the rug". Eileen reportedly told Operation Rescue that two days after her daughter's death, she gave a full interview to the local newspaper. The article about Laura was suppoed to be published on the day of her funeral, but it hasn't been published at all.

    According to OR, Eileen didn't know Laura was pregnant, much less that she was planning an abortion. Laura was 13 weeks pregnant when she was taken to the abortion facility by a friend. Eileen contradicted an earlier report that Laura had bled to death, saying that Laura actually went into respiratory arrest during the abortion, then her heart stopped.

    OR reports, "Ten days after Laura’s death, Smith met privately for one hour at a public place with Osathanondh. He would only meet with Smith alone and refused to allow even allow her husband to accompany her. Osathanondh admitted that Laura died during the abortion but refused to admit he did anything wrong." OR also reports that Eileen Smith said she was "appalld and sickened" by her daughter's death, but can not give more details due to a pending lawsuit against the abortionist.

    “My daughter was 22, healthy, and alive when she walked into that clinic,” OR quotes Eileen Smith. “She didn’t even have a cold. There is no reason for her to be dead.”

    OR says, "Laura was born into abject poverty in Hondurus on May 25, 1985, and was abandoned at an orphanage. An American couple that adopted Laura abused her terribly and gave her up. Laura was then adopted by Tom and Eileen Smith, a Christian family that lovingly raised Laura in the Cape Cod community of Sandwich." She graduated from Upper Cape Tech in 2004, trained as a cosmetologist, but she left that field to work in retain management.

    It's particularly sad to me that Laura resorted to abortion despite being a Christian active in her local church. Anybody can panic, and our churches need to be teaching young women how to get past the panic that too often leads to the abortion table. OR reports that over 600 people attended Laura's funeral, and at least one young woman decided to reject abortion after learning of Laura's needless death.

    More hope -- from Russia!

    More hope on the horizon for my nephew and others like him:

    To Walk Again: A local woman journeys to Russia for stem cell treatments:

    "They give you shots for four days on the 5th day what those shots have done is make your bone marrow create an abundance of stem cells." .... Three trips and six injections later [Jeni] Rummelt can use her hip-flexers to crawl. A considerable feat, after not being able to move the lower half of her body for years. "I had no feeling, no sensation, if my leg fell I had no idea at all," said Rummelt. With therapy Rummelt grows stronger everyday she can even stand. And she can actually feel pain in her foot, five years post injury. .... "Every other week, something is getting stronger or I'm feeling something different, or a little bit more." .... Adult stem cell therapy is conducted in the Unites States for cancer patients, it is not approved for spinal cord injuries.


    Jeni's web site is here. You can read an article written before she went to Russia, in which the focus was wheelchair camp for kids. So yes, she really was paralyzed and didn't just make this up for the publicity after coming back from Russia.

    The clinic she went to offers four patient videos here.

    Published results: Tissue engineering and autologous stem cells in severe SCI treatment in humans, European Journal of Neurology

    Nephew doing well!

    Thanks again so much for all your prayers. Benj's mom sends thanks and hugs.

    Sam (Benj's wife) got word from the nurse (Doug) that they had Benj sitting up in a special recliner a bit last night. And -- (drum roll) -- he's been complaining that they don't feed him enough! That's our boy Benj!

    He's no longer needing supplemental oxygen, and his lungs are healing very nicely. Yay!

    They're planning a move soon out of the ICU to standard care. Yay again. And -- he might be off to the rehab hospital as soon as Monday!

    This is serious miracle time. The medics and firefighters and news photographer were surprised that Benj was still alive at all. And just the middle of the week they weren't sure he'd make it through the night. Now they're looking ahead to rehab.

    I can add that I got an email from my sister-in-law -- my brother Steve will be getting out of Iraq for a short visit, passing thru Seattle briefly to see his wife and kids before heading to Pennsylvania to see Benj. Prayers for a safe trip appreciated as well.

    Robin Williams Carol Burnette Funeral Sketch

    Totally irrelevant but I just found it on YouTube and I love it:

    Equally dead

    On September 28, 1929, 29-year-old Barbara Auer died in Chicago from complications of an illegal abortion performed at an unknown place. The person or persons responsible were never identified and as a result never prosecuted.

    Rhonda Hess was 20 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. After the procedure, she developed an infection. The infection led to problems with clotting of the blood. Rhonda was taken to Moss Regional Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she died on September 28, 1982. Nobody cared who was responsible, since it was no longer a crime to do this sort of thing to women.

    Does the MSM *want* my nephew to stay paralyzed?

    It's prolifers, those of us opposed to ESCR (embryonic stem cell research) who are painted in the MSM as being mean-spirited and wanting to keep people disabled and sick. But how come these champions of patients' rights keep silent about adult stem cell research (ASCR) that is restoring function to spinal cord injured patients?

    This is the second facility I've learned of that is having success like this. The other, in Portugal, has treated 30 patients successfully, with published peer-reviewed results on the seven patients who have completed the 18-month follow-up. Look at these results from Ecuador:

    Dr. Luis Geffner presented a preliminary report on September 17 at the 2007 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in San Diego. From May 2006 to August 2007, 38 patients with SCI were treated at Luis Vernaza Hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. They were treated with autologous bone marrow stem cells – meaning the cells were extracted from the patients’ own bone marrow, taken from the hip bone (iliac crests).

    Of the 25 patients who provided more than three months and up to 14 months follow up: 15 gained the ability to stand up, 10 could walk on the parallels with braces, seven could walk without braces and five could walk with crutches. Three patients recovered full bladder control, and 10 patients regained some form of sexual function. No adverse events or abnormal reactions to implantation were observed.


    The press release, intended to attract investors, says, "More information on the study is available upon request, including video of some patients who underwent treatment." Let me tell you, I'm making that request!

    I'm getting really, really angry. The gatekeepers of the MSM are manipulating the general public and people with these injuries, keeping them in the dark about ASCR treatments that are working to help patients right now, because they want us to think that the only possible cures are ones that involve killing embryos. They're more interested in painting us as monsters than they are in seeing people like my nephew walk again.

    Why is it that once somebody embraces the idea of ESCR, they become in thrall to it this way, that they'd deny people like my nephew this information?

    HT: JJ

    Thursday, September 27, 2007

    Miracle baby is obstacle to Brazilian abortion proponents

    Brazilian baby with anencephaly now ten months old

    Little Marcela de Jesus Galante Ferrerira has broken the survival record for babies with anencephaly. "According to her pediatrician, Dr. Marcia Beani, despite her birth defect, Marcela is very active, can recognize her mother and cries when she is not in her arms. She still is being fed with a tube, but occasionally she can take soup and soft foods."

    This is not the empty shell described by advocates of aborting such children or just gutting them to use their organs. Marcela is a child, no more or less deserving of her life than any other child. Abortion supporters in Brazil, predictably, are lamenting that prolifers are pointing to Marcela as evidence that severely disabled babies deserve a chance at life:

    “We fear that this isolated and rare case will change the Court’s opinion and that everything that we have achieved up to know could be jeopardized by this case,” said Dr. Jorge Andalaft Neto, who performs abortions at the Jabaquara Hospital.


    You've got a sad life when you count getting state sanction for killing disabled children as some sort of achievement. Wouldn't helping disabled kids be a more worthwhile endeavor?

    HT: Big Blue Wave.

    Recent abortion death in Massachusetts

    Operation Rescue West is reporting on the recent abortion death of a Massachusetts woman. The 22-year old woman, whose name OR is not releasing, bled to death on September 13, 2007 after an abortion perpetrated at Women Health Center in Hyannis. The abortionist has been tentatively identified as Rapin Osthanondh. OR noted that this particular abortionist made headlines in 2001 for threatening to murder five hospital nurses in a fit of rage. A complaint was filed with the medical board against him.

    The woman, to the shame of the church, was a member of a nearby Calvary Chapel. The church really isn't doing its job when its members are going to abortion clinics.

    More on this as I get the information.

    Safe and legal anniversary: another undiagnosed ectopic

    On September 13, 1975, 22-year-old Lynette Wallace underwent an abortion at Inglewood Women's Hospital in Los Angeles County.

    Early on the morning of September 27, Lynette went to the emergency room reporting abdominal pain. Staff reported that she became agitated and "difficult to handle."They put her in restraints, and she was pronouced dead of cardiopulmonary arrest at 10:53 AM.

    The autopsy revealed what the abortionist should have detected -- the pregnancy had not been in Lynette's uterus but in her fallopian tube. The tube had ruptured, spilling blood and a 10-week fetus into Lynette's abdomen.

    Women who seek abortion should be less likely to die of ruptured ectopic pregnancies than women who do not seek abortion. After all, the abortionist is supposed to perform an examination verifying the size of the uterus, and is supposed to visually examine the abortion tissue to be sure that the entire fetus and placenta are present. Also, a pathology examination
    is supposed to be done on the uterine contents to verify the presence of the entire fetal/placental unit.

    However, women who seek abortion are actually more likely to die of ruptured ectopic pregnancies than women who do not seek abortion. The pain and nausea associated with an ectopic pregnancy are often mistaken for ordinary post-abortion symptoms, and are ignored until the tube ruptures and the woman's life is in danger.

    Lynette is one of many deaths currently attributed to Inglewood Women's Hospital (aka Inglewood Women's Clinic) in Los Angeles County. The others are Yvonne Tanner, Kathy Murphy, Belinda Byrd, Cora Lewis, and Elizabeth Tsuji.

    Don't these people have the Internet?

    Jivin' J posts:

    n These Times (a leftwing monthly magazine) has an article by Carrie Kilman on abortion in the South. One of the highlights is when Kilman ignorantly claims that most states in the Deep South "ban abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy."

    Does this magazine have a single editor?? Seriously?? Of the states Kilman lists (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina) each has an abortion facility which advertises they do abortion after 12 weeks on their web site. I found the above clinics in a couple of minutes by simply typing "abortion" and the state name in Google.


    Jay commented:

    It took me 3 minutes on the Planned Parenthood Website to pull up a table with all 50 states and the legal restrictions on abortion. Georgia allows abortions up to the third trimester per this sheet and if a 2nd pysician approves later term abortions are approved.


    This reinforces what James Davison Hunter found about how "the more confident they were in their misinformation," the more likely Americans were to self-identify as "pro-choice". You have to be clinging to ignorance with both hands white-knucked to hang on to some of this.

    Friday, September 21, 2007

    Update

    First of all, thanks to all of you who have been praying for my nephew. His condition is pretty much unchanged, which on the one hand isn't good -- he's in critical condition and could take a further nose-dive at any time -- but at least he's not beyond hope. Funny thing, I'd just emailed my daughter some links to the Murderball trailer and a review (below), and was thinking in terms of getting Benj into the woods for opening day of deer season. I clicked "Send" and when I got back to my inbox, there was the email that Benj was gone critical. How quickly the question goes from "Can we get Benj up and about for hunting?" to "Will Benj still be alive when I get home from work?"





    All this said, I also have to announce that I'll be away in Mongolia for four days. I talked to my sister about cancelling, but she's very up about me going. "Go!" she said. "Have great adventures and take lots of pictures to show Benj when you get back." I think my going is a leap of faith that Benj will still be with us when I get back.

    Continued prayers very much appreciated. My friend Nichole will be posting anniversaries while I'm gone. Fight nice!

    Two safe, legal anniversaries: Minnie and Debra

    Minnie Lathan was 41 when she had an abortion and tubal ligation performed some time in September of 1978. Her uterus was perforated and her colon damaged during the procedure. She developed an infection and was hospitalized at Cleveland Clinic Hospital. She died there on September 25.

    Debra Walton was 35 years old when she underwent an abortion in the fall of 1989. On September 24, 1989, about three weeks after the abortion, she was admitted to University Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. She was in septic shock. Despite efforts to save her, she died the next day, September 25, 1989. Her death certificate does not say where the abortion took place or who performed it.

    Illegal anniversary: Martha Kohnke

    On September 24, 1927, 35-year-old Martha Kohnke died in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day. Nurse Emma Schultz was held by the coroner on October 5.

    Two anniversaries before Roe: Mary and Barbara

    On September 23, 1899, Mary Kakacek died in her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed that day by midwife Annie Stonek. Stonek was held without bail by the Coroner's Jury.

    "Barbara" was 35 years old when she traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion in 1971. She was 20 weeks pregnant. Within 24 hours of being injected with saline for the abortion, she went into convulsions, then her heart stoped. Efforts to save her failed. She died on September 23, 1971, leaving behind five children. The autopsy could find no anatomical cause of death. Nobody was arrested, since killing women like Barbara was no longer a crime in New York.

    Anniversary: Criminal death, doc implicated

    On September 9, 1930, 20-year-old Matilda Kleinschmidt underwent a criminal abortion, believed to have been performed in the office of Dr. J. Murney Nicholson. Matilda died on September 21. On September 22, Nicholson was held by the coroner for murder. John C. Ross was held as an accessory. Nicholson was indicted for felony murder in Matilda's death.

    Anniversary: Antiquated technique causes woman's death

    The widower of a Wisconsin teacher killed in a legal abortion has filed suit against the hospital training the resident who did the procedure. Linda Boom, age 35, went to Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee for an abortion on September 21, 1995.

    Linda and her husband, Dennis Boom, had married in 1993 and planned to start a family. Linda learned that she was pregnant in June of 1995, but in September elected abortion because the fetus had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Linda's aunt had Down Syndrome, which Linda believed meant "no life."

    Fourth-year resident Karen S. Watson administered an amnioinfusion. Linda reported pain and said she was "burning up all over." This is consistent with what a woman might experience during a botched saline abortion. Watson's supervising physician, Daniel Gilman, injected more chemicals into Linda's uterus. Dennis Boom's attorney, Patrick Dunphy, said that the two injections caused the heart damage that killed Linda 36 hours after the first injection.

    Watson did not use ultrasound to guide the needle injecting the poison into Linda, and apparently she injected the chemicals directly into Linda's bloodstream instead of into the amniotic sac.

    The defense, of course, says that there was no negligence. Also, the hospital says that Gilman is responsible for Linda's death, because he performed the second injection and was supervising Watson. Gilman can't be named in the suit because the statute of limitations expired before Linda's husband filed. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Gilman "had performed more than 100 abortions." Watson has started an ob/gyn practice in Milwaukee.

    News coverage of the case does not indicate why Watson and Gilman chose the antiquated instillation technique for Linda's abortion. Since the late 1960s, nations such as Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union had abandoned instillation abortions as being far too dangerous for the mother. US abortionists began abandoning the technique in the mid-1980s.

    More HPV vaccine problems

    Sometimes it pays to err on the side of caution. At least if you're pregnant and you love your unborn baby:

    Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormalities.


    It doesn't make it clear if the babies who were harmed were allowed to be born or if they were aborted.

    HPV just isn't a big risk for chaste women, and it's absurd to make it madatory for them to start assuming the risks of the HPV vaccine (as CHILDREN!) so that the women and girls whose lifestyle choices put them at risk won't feel as if they're being tarred with the promiscuous brush.

    Thursday, September 20, 2007

    EMERGENCY PR!

    I just now got an email from my daughter. My newphew is in a major health crisis post-surgery. They say that if he survives the night -- which they're not sure he will -- he should be out of the woods for the time being.

    For those of you who are new, my nephew, Benj, was just recently in a disasterous traffic wreck that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He just had surgery on Tuesday, and seemed stable. But now, it's not looking good.

    Continued prayers appreciated.

    Anniversary: "One of those fluky things."

    Twenty-two-year-old Liliana Cortez underwent an abortion by Leo Kenneally at his Her Medical Clinic in Los Angeles on September 20, 1986. Other than having asthma, Liliana was in good health when she went for her abortion. After the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest. There was a 40-minute delay until the paramedics arrived to transport Liliana to a hospital. She died five days later.

    Liliana's death was ruled a "therapeutic misadventure," which a coroner's spokesman called, "a nice medical term for a mistake."

    An attorney for Her Medical Clinic said, "If something like this happened at a hospital ... people would just say it was bad luck, one of those fluky things. But ... all of a sudden they make it seem like these (abortion clinics) are terrible places where terrible things happen."

    Yeah, there are lots of flukey things at Her Medical Clinic. The same year Liliana died, another young woman with asthma, Donna Heim, arrested and died during an abortion at Her Medical Clinic. The next year they failed to adequately resuscitate Michelle Thames, who also died.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Local and regional PP boycott information available

    Life Decisions International has prepared a catalog of local and regional businesses who support Planned Parenthood.

    I would suggest more of an educational approach rather than a straight-out boycott. Arrange to meet with owners or decision-makers in businesses you had been using, explaining to them why you can't in good conscience let money pass from your hands through them to an organization like Planned Parenthood.

    You can get a free pamphlet on how Planned Parenthood facilitates child sexual abuse here. If you contact ChildPredators.com, you might be able to get audio tapes of the sting calls to your local PP. This can be a powerful tool! Few people honestly want to contribute to facilitating child sexual abuse!

    A printable brochure about PP's history and impact is here. You can get an analysis of PP's annual report here.

    Whichever information you decide is most relevant, please be prayerful and respectful. Even if you don't convince the business to stop funding child abuse and discrimination against the poor, disabled, and minorities, you can come away having changed their view of prolifers as raving, bomb-throwing nutcases.

    Genetic screening increases abortions, education reduces them

    Study: Genetic Screening Prompts Abortions, Proper Counseling Cuts Them

    A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked into the responses of parents whose unborn children were screened for Gaucher Disease, a lipid-storage disorder affecting Jewish people of Eastern European ancestry. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation which causes an enzyme deficiency. The effects may range from no symptoms at all to severe disability or death if untreated. Half of children who have the abnormality will have no symptoms at all. The other half can live normal lives with proper medical treatment.

    A study over an 8-year period found that of parents who were simply told that their unborn child tested positive for the disorder, 100 percent of them opted for abortion. But among parents who met with an expert who explained treatment options for the disease, only 8 percent chose abortion. This means that 92% of the parents who aborted their unborn children would have chosen to continue the pregnancy had they been given relevant information about their child's prognosis.

    This should be an area where the prochoice and the prolife are in 100% agreement -- that there is no excuse for simply telling parents their unborn child has a potentially fatal genetic disorder without telling them that the disorder is completely treatable. This is utterly unconscionable and I hope the doctors who just let their patients abort in frightened ignorance get sued out of house and home. And get their medical licenses yanked for failing to provide even rudimentary informed consent to their patients.

    Wednesday, September 19, 2007

    Stem cells: This time, it's personal

    I'm getting a quick education in spinal cord injury research since my nephew's accident. (Continued prayers, please! He has a wife and a little girl at home, 3 years old.)

    This is exciting:

    Olfactory mucosa transplantation is a procedure by which the adult stem cells are removed from the nasal mucosa and transplanted into the specific areas of damaged tissue. Such a procedure has already shown very positive results in the treatment of spinal cord injury. .... Dr. Carlos Lima, a neuropathologist at Egaz-Moniz Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, developed the procedure and has successfully treated approximately 30 patients who were suffering with spinal cord injury.

    In one case, a female individual was paralyzed from the neck down with a C6 vertebral burst fracture after surviving a car accident at the age of 16. Although doctors at several hospitals in the U.S. emphatically assured her that she would never walk again, one specialist informed her of a new procedure that had been developed in Portugal. Within 6 months of receiving a stem cell transplantation from Dr. Lima that involved the use of her own stem cells derived from her own olfactory bulb, she was told by her physical therapists that her spinal cord had begun healing, and MRI scans confirmed that 70% of the lesions that developed after her injury had resolved into normal spinal tissue. She continued to acquire sensation in her extremities and eventually was able to stand and walk with the aid of a walker.

    Another patient who was left paraplegic after a car accident with vertebral injuries to T7 and T8 was able to walk again, with braces, within one year after receiving Dr. Lima’s stem cell transplantation. Yet another patient, who was left quadriplegic from a spinal cord injury, regained bladder control and arm and leg movement after being injected with stem cells from her own nasal mucosa by Dr. Lima.

    Dr. Jean D. Peduzzi-Nelson, a professor of psychological optics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, has collaborated with Dr. Lima on this new technique and has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation regarding the scientific efficacy and safety of this procedure. Dr. Peduzzi-Nelson as well as other scientists, physicians and neurologists in the U.S. are now seeking Congressional and FDA approval for this treatment to be legalized and made available in the United States. (Emphasis mine. People are being successfully treated with this method, but all the brouhaha raised by people obsessed with only wanting embryonic stem cells are getting all the media attention!)

    Other therapies have shown positive results when patients with spinal cord injuries were treated with mesenchymal stem cells in combination with CD34. One patient in particular who was paralyzed below the mid-chest level with a T5 injury regained feeling and muscle control in the pelvis, along with restored sensation in his feet, after receiving 3 such treatments. The patient continues to improve. Mesenchymal stem cells are adult pluripotent progenitor cells with the ability to self-renew indefinitely and with differentiation capacities that yield a variety of tissue types including cartilage, bone, muscle, tendon, ligament, fat and nerve. CD34 refers to a group of clustered differentiation molecules, also known as transmembrane glycoproteins, that function as cell-to-cell adhesion factors and which also mediate the attachment of stem cells to the extracellular matrix. They are found in abundance in umbilical cord blood, endothelial cells and in bone marrow hematopoeitic cells, from which they may be isolated via immunomagnetic methods. Undifferentiated CD34+ mononuclear cells are pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells and as such exhibit a vast range of differentiation capabilities.

    Adult stem cells offer the same pluripotency as embryonic stem cells, but without the danger of forming teratomas (tumors), which remains a serious risk from embryonic stem cells. It is neither necessary nor desirable to use embryonic stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injuries or other disorders, since a growing number of studies are showing increasing success with adult stem cells. In fact, the only stem cell studies that have ever shown success in the treatment of any human disease have involved adult stem cells, since no study has ever been conducted in which a disease was successfully treated with human embryonic stem cells, although this fact is not generally reported by the media. Ever since researchers first isolated human embryonic stem cells in 1998, there has never been a successful treatment for any human disease in a human being by embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have in fact proven to be very problematic, whereas bone marrow and cord blood stem cells, by contrast, have been safely used by doctors for over 40 years. Human umbilical cord blood in particular is now known to be a rich source of growth factors and cytokines, both of which are necessary for the regeneration of tissue, and stem cells that are derived from human umbilical cord blood have been shown to be more effective at tissue regeneration than are other types of stem cells that lack such additional factors. Ethics and politics aside, adult stem cells are highly preferable to embryonic stem cells purely for scientific reasons.


    Here are some success stories.

    This young woman had success in Portugal. Here is her doctor's paper in the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. READ IT!! It's amazing.

    Well it's late here in the Land of Spit and Bailing Wire. Additional information about treatments that might help Benj would be very welcome.

    Continued prayers for nephew, please

    He had the surgery to fuse his broken spine today and they confirmed that the paralysis is permanent, though there is some sensation. I guess the sense nerves and the motor nerves branch off at different points. It's a T8 fracture.

    I know that there are adult stem cell treatments in the works here in South Korea as well as in Portugal. Now might be a good time to blow the dust off your links if you have any. Also biofeedback, computer stimulation, etc. What's out there for Benj?

    Tuesday, September 18, 2007

    Anniversary: Fatal embolism

    Thirty-six-year-old Kathy McKnight underwent an abortion on September 17, 1993. Early the next morning, Kathy had trouble breathing. She was taken to University Memorial Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kathy died in the emergency room. Her autopsy revealed that she died of a pulmonary embolism.

    Monday, September 17, 2007

    Anniversary: The death of Holly Patterson

    Holly Patterson, age 18, died September 17, 2003, from sepsis caused by a fetus incompletely expelled in a chemical abortion. Holly got the drugs for the fatal abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Hayward, California, on September 10.

    Rather than follow the recommended protocols for chemical abortions, Planned Parenthood followed the more popular American approach of giving Holly the mifepristone at the facility, then giving her misoprostol to self-administer vaginally at home.

    Holly had experienced severe cramping and pain, and went to the emergency room. She was examined, given pain medication, and discharged. At her boyfriends insistence, she returned to the emergency room on September 17, but by then her condition had deteriorated and efforts to save her were futile.

    Monty Patterson, Holly‘s father, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "The medical community treats this as a simple pill you take, as if you're getting rid of a headache. The procedure, the follow-ups, it's all too lackadaisical. The girl gets a pill. Then she's sent home to do the rest on her own. There are just too many things that can go wrong."

    For an extensive, in-depth look at Holly's death and the surrounding political firestorm, see: The Making of a Martyr, Holly Patterson‘s death.

    Three other women were identified as having died of infection deaths after RU-486 deaths in the Los Angeles area: Chanelle Bryant, Oriane Shevin, and Vivian Tran. Chanelle got her abortion drugs at a Planned Parenthood, and Oriane and Vivian got theirs from National Abortion Federation members.



    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Saturday, September 15, 2007

    Please pray for my nephew


    I just got the email from my sister. Her son (age 24) was just in a wreck that ripped the cab right off his pickup truck. He was care-flighted to Altoona Hospital where he is in intensive care in a drug-induced coma until they can operate on his broken back. He has sensation and movement in his arms but not in his legs.

    Prayers very much appreciated.

    Two Chicago illegal anniversaries on the same day

    On September 15, 1925, Mary Williams, a 25-year-old Black woman, died at Chicago's County Hospital from an abortion performed on her that day at an undisclosed location. The person responsible for Mary's death was never identified.

    On September 15, 1926, 23-year-old Mary Bailek died at Chicago's Lutheran Deaconnes Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed at her home that day. Rozalia Ossowska, alias Olszewski, was arrested for the death on October 7. On March 15, 1927, she was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury.

    Friday, September 14, 2007

    Saturday Roundup

    An Abortionist's Right to Deceive Women, in National Review Online, looks at the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling that it's okay for an abortionist to assure a woman who asks about "the baby" that an abortion will remove nothing but "tissue" or "blood". Their logic was that "[Acuna] understood that without [an abortion or] miscarriage, she would give birth to a child in seven more months.” But Ms. Acuna didn't ask her doctor what would happen in seven months if she opted not to abort. She asked what was in her uterus at the moment, what exactly it was that an abortion would destroy. He lied to her. And the New Jersey Supreme Court if okay with that. (HT: JJ) More on this here.

    Another dastardly researcher is developing cures that don't require killing anybody. (HT: JJ) And here's more! (HT: Stem Cell Therapy) How can we make any progress in the world at all if curing Person A doesn't require that Person B's life be sacrificed? Why, ESCR and organ harvesting could go the way of the buggy whip! Perish the thought!

    ProLife Blogs asks, What Percentage of PP's Business Really Is Abortions? PP repeatedly claims that abortion accounts for ever so tiny a percentage of their business. But according to PP's own 2003-03 Annual Report, abortion generated between 63.3% and 71% of Planned Parenthood Federation of America's total clinic revenue. And, as ProLife Blogs notes, "Abortions were the end result in 93% of all pregnancies seen by Planned Parenthood." They're not very successful in helping people plan parenthood, are they, if so many of their customers' pregnancies are ending in abortion?

    And in the Paging Captain Obvious department: Parental Notification for Abortion Decreases STD risk.

    For the Why The Left Hates Bush files: He won't support forced abortions in China with US tax dollars. What a heartless bastard!

    Two criminal anniversaries

    On September 14, 1928, 20-year-old Stella Wallenberg died from a criminal abortion performed in Chicago. Loretta Rybicki, identified as a "massaguer", was held by the coroner for murder by abortion. Dr. Nicholas Kalinowski was held as an accessory. Rybicki was indicted for felony murder on November 15.

    On September 14, 1925, 19-year-old Miss Elizabeth Welter died in the Chicago office of Dr. Lucy Hagenow from complications of an abortion performed that day. Lawrence Vail or Vaily was identified by the coroner as responsible for the pregnancy, and the coroner recommended his arrest. Though the coroner also recommended the arrest of Dr. Hagenow. However, because Vail refused to give a statement, police were unable to gather enough evidence to arrest her.

    Anniversary: Safe and legal in Pennsylvania

    Rhonda Rollilnson underwent an abortion by Dr. Jay I. Levin at Malcom Polis's Philadelphia Women's Center September 3, 1992. The abortion attempt was unsuccessful. Rhonda was then sent home, with instructions to return on September 12 to try again.

    Rhonda experienced such severe pain, dizziness, fever, and discharge that on September 10 she sought emergency care at a hospital. She was suffering "severe non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema consistent with adult respiratory distress syndrome."

    Doctors did a laparoscopy, dilation and evacuation, abdominal hysterectomy, and splenectomy, to no avail. Rhonda died on September 14. The autopsy revealed a perforation from her vagina into the uterine cavity, sepsis, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy, non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis, pulmonary infarctions, and dysplastic kidney.

    The suit filed by Rhonda's survivors also charged the facility and Polis with hiring Levin despite his lack of competence, failure to properly supervise his work, violation of applicable laws and regulations, lack of informed consent, failure to give proper post-operative instructions, and failure "to respond to the requests of [Rhonda] and her family for post-operative medical advice."

    Teacher in Florida used abortion to cover up abuse of students

    Florida Police Hunt Teacher Who Used Abortion to Hide Sexual Abuse

    I won't make any of the snide comments that are popping into my head. I'll leave that to commenters.

    Wednesday, September 12, 2007

    Journalism 101

    Get your facts straight. This is -- or at least ought to be -- one of the core components of journalism.

    Not so if you are Kristen Zembo of the Aurora Beacon News. She recently described Planned Parenthood's new stealth clinic as "a full-service health center".

    Here is PP's own description of what they plan to offer.

    They won't refill your asthma inhaler. They won't give you a tetanus shot if you step on a nail. They won't adjust your depression mediations. They won't treat your flu, diarrhea, arthritis, sunburn, sprained ankle, ingrown toenail, or migraines.

    They are not a full-service health center, any more than Jiffy Lube is a full-service mechanic.

    Now, Ms. Zembo is free to consider the stealth clinic as the biggest boon to Aurora since they put in the water and sewer. She's free to consider Planned Parenthood to be even more vital to the city's well being than water and sewer. We can debate until we're blue in the face whether PP's servies are noble or ignoble, bane or boon, darkness or light.

    But only Humpty Dumpty could say that they're a "full-service health center".

    Ms. Dumpty, your office is on Line 1.

    Who is paying this woman?

    "No Regrets"

    Dawn Eden managed to get ahold of a jpg of the delted Daily Mail abortion story.

    The woman in question, Ashleigh Taylor, is a study in prochoice logic: She made a choice because she had no choice, it was a horrible nightmare which haunts her to this day but she has no regrets and wants other women to have the opportunity to likewise experience the same living hell.

    Misery loves company, I guess.

    Thanks, Dawn, for a great job.

    My beloved Scotsman on 9/11

    It takes a while for CBS to get these up, but they're worth waiting for. And certain days are exceptional.

    Craig Ferguson always does a great job refusing to back down on 9/11.

    Not bad for a self-described vulgar lounge entertainer.

    Daily Mail censors own abortion story

    Dawn Eden and BIg Blue Wave posted about the article in the Daily Mail, What WE think of abortion - by the women who had them.... The article still says, "But what do women who have had abortions think? Here, seven of them give their views . . ." But they only share six stories.

    Dawn quoted the story that was removed:

    By the time I had the abortion, I was 15 weeks and two days pregnant. I went into hospital with my best friend for moral support, and the nurse gave me tablets to bring on labour. Because I was so far into the pregnancy, I had to give birth rather than have a straightforward abortion.

    It was horrendous. After two hours the contractions started, and I clung onto the hand of the midwife. Once I felt the baby starting to come, I had to go into the toilet and let it drop onto a stainless steel tray.

    "Don't look," said the midwife. "Keep your eyes straight in front of you and walk away immediately." There was no way I could have looked down and seen my baby. I was numb.

    By then I was bleeding heavily, but I was allowed to go home. I went straight to bed and told my mum I had a very heavy period. For two days I lay in bed, shocked and exhausted, but I still I knew I had done the right thing.

    Three months later, I started university. I coped by just blanking the abortion out. I would make the same decision again, but it has affected my life. I am paranoid about getting pregnant, and haven't had a successful relationship since.


    Dawn says, "The woman's name and photo were printed in the story. She is a 22-year-old TV researcher and has a Louise Brooks haircut."

    Anniversary: RU-486 death in Tennessee

    Brenda Vise, a 38-year-old pharmaceutical representative, died on September 12, 2002, of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy after a chemical abortion at Volunteer Women‘s Clinic (the Lime 5 clinic) in Tennessee. Her survivors filed suit against the facility, as well as Dr. Edgar Perry and Dr. Richard Manning.

    The lawsuit filed by Brenda‘s survivors notes that "Volunteer Medical Clinic, Inc. (‘VMC‘) was administratively dissolved by the Tennessee Secretary of State because of its failure to comply with applicable law. VMC has been administratively dissolved by the Tennessee Secretary of State since September 17, 1999." Dispite having been shut down by the state, VMC continued to do business and to advertise in the yellow pages for abortions, including chemical abortions.

    Brenda took a home pregnancy test on September 5, and it was positive. The suit implies that she found VMC in the yellow pages, and made an appointment for Friday, September 7. VMC staff did a pregnancy test and did an ultrasound. "Ms. Vise was advised that the ultrasound showed no fetus in the uterus. Clinic personnel explained that this was because the fetus was ‘too small to be seen.‘ It was estimated that Ms. Vise was approximately six weeks pregnant. By such point in her pregnancy, a fetus in the uterus would have been easily seen with a proper ultrasound examination."

    The lack of a visible fetus in the uterus should have clued the facility in to the fact that Brenda had an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy is a medical emergency and is a contraindication to the administration of Mifeprex.

    VMC gave Brenda a dose of Mifeprex. "Ms. Vise was advised by the Clinic that side effects of Mifeprex were mild and short-lived."

    Brenda was then sent home from the facility with a dose Cytotec that she was to self-administer to complete her abortion. She did not have a follow-up appointment scheduled for the recommended 2-3 days after the administration of Mifeprex.

    The suit also mentions that "The Federal Government has never approved Cytotec for use in pregnant women and specifically has not approved it in pregnant women for the purpose of inducing an abortion, and in fact has warned against such use." It also noted, "In August, 2000, the manufacturer of Cytotec specifically issued a letter to healthcare providers that Cytotec was contraindicated in women who are pregnant and that Cytotec was not approved for the induction of labor or abortion, and in fact should not be used in an abortion. Ms. Vise was never advised of these facts."

    "Ms. Vise was never advised of who [her qualified physicians] were and, in fact, Ms. Vise was specifically advised that she would have to return to Knoxville rather than consulting a local physician or hospital in the event of any complication."

    Brenda called VMC to report problems upon returning home. In that first call, and in Brenda's repeated calls to VMC, she was assured that her symptoms were "normal and routine."

    Brenda took the Cytotec as instructed roughly 48 hours after her initial dose of Mifeprex. She continued to experience pain and nausea, and called VMC. She was told to take some medications for her symptoms. VMC was told that Brenda had a sub-normal body temperature, that she was pale, and that she had significant pelvic pain. "Instead of advising Ms. Vise to immediately proceed to a doctor, the Clinic continually assured her that all of these were normal symptoms and that she was not to be concerned."

    Brenda called VMC again on Monday, September 10, indicating her deteriorating condition. She was told that her symptoms were "to be expected,"; and was told to travel to VMC, in Knoxville, for a check-up at 3:30 p.m. "She was specifically directed not to go to a hospital in Chattanooga because, according to the Clinic, no hospital in Chattanooga would have knowledge about the drugs that had been administered."

    Brenda‘s boyfriend tried to take her to Knoxville, but for a reason not cited was unable to do so. Instead, he called an ambulance, which rushed Brenda to a Chattanooga hospital.

    "Ms. Vise was immediately admitted to the hospital in very critical condition. Exploratory surgery revealed that Ms. Vise had had an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy which had ruptured. Such rupture led to massive infection and a collapse of her vital systems."

    "On September 12, 2001, the attending physician certified that Ms. Vise was terminal with no reasonable medical prospect of recovery and was in a coma and totally unresponsive. Ms. Vise died later that day."

    Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they‘re actually more likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners.

    Ringing endorsements

    What WE think of abortion - by the women who had them...

    Sarah Giles expresses regret:
    I had a general anaesthetic, but when I came round I was lying on a recliner chair surrounded by the other girls in the waiting room, many of them sobbing hysterically. It was like a scene from hell. There was pop music blasting out from the office, and the staff were chatting loudly, ignoring us. All I could think was: "Get me out of here."


    Jenny Wltson says she has no regrets. But if she doesn't feel at all guilty, why does she have to justify it to herself two years later?
    n my mind, it was not a proper baby yet so I didn't feel like I was killing something. Now, when I hear how babies can have a heartbeat at six weeks, it does upset me.

    The procedure was done under general anaesthetic so I didn't feel a thing. I don't feel guilty, and I justify it by saying to myself that I only have one life and I can't give up my own happiness and dreams for the sake of a baby.


    Sarah Fry expresses regrets:
    No obstacles were put in my way, and the whole process was so incredibly quick and smooth that I never really had the chance to think if it was something I really wanted to go through with.


    Varria Russellwhite expresses regrets:
    I was given a pill and then a pessary the following day, which induced a miscarriage. I was not prepared for what followed. After eight hours I gave birth to a small but fully formed baby.

    As I watched the nurse carry it away in a pool of blood, I felt so hollow at the waste of a life. I could clean the mess off me, but couldn't wash the guilt from my mind.


    Sue Hulbert expresses regrets:
    As the nurse explained how they would put me under anaesthetic while they sucked the baby out, I was shaking.

    Seeing how distressed I was, she told me: "I'm going to give you an hour to have a think about whether you really want this."

    I cried non-stop for that hour but I couldn't find the words to say no, so I went through with it.

    When I came to, I felt devastated about what I had done and immediately regretted it. I went home with this aching, empty feeling.

    ....

    One night, I wrote letters to my family and friends and took an overdose of antidepressants. But it wasn't enough - and the next day I was woken by the phone. It was Alan, who realised I could barely speak and called an ambulance.

    With counselling,things gradually got better. Not a day goes by, though, when I don't regret my abortion.


    HT: Dawn Eden

    Tuesday, September 11, 2007

    Legalization: The great equalizer

    Dr. Mandel M. Friedman was charged with homicide in the September 11, 1962 death of Barbara C. Covington, age 35, a Florida socialite. Friedman attributed Barbara's death to a heart attack and tried to get an undertaker to arrange a burial. The undertaker reported the case to authorities. A 31-year-old advertising executive, Franklin Charles Beck, admitted to securing the $1000 abortion fee and driving Barbara to Friedman's office. Friedman was on bail for the death of Vivian Grant at the time of Barbara's death.

    Of course, we're told that it's unfair that rich women like Barbara Covington had access to the services guys lke Friedman offered. Roe vs. Wade fixed that:

    Diane Smith, age 23, was one of the women mentioned in the Chicago Sun-Times expose, "The Abortion Profiteers." According to the report, and her death certificate, Diane was admitted to Englewood Hospital in Chicago due to hemorrhaging. She told staff that she'd had an abortion in a Chicago-area clinic. Diane was treated for a perforated uterus and sepsis, to no avail. Diane died on September 11, 1976.

    Maybe I'm dense but I don't see what the advantage was to Diane Smith in granting her access to what Barbara Covington could afford.

    Monday, September 10, 2007

    It's a miracle!

    MSM coverage of Michelle Armesto's allegations against Tiller!

  • The Wichita Eagle
  • KAKE

    It's not the world's best covereage, but to even have MSM simply noting that not every woman walking into Tiller's facility comes out dancing joyously and singing his praises to the skies is progress.
  • Nazis, abortion, and childbirth

    I"m not playing the "prochoicers are just like Nazis" card, because I think that the vast, vast majority of prochoice citizens will be just as appalled at these recently revealed testimonies as prolife citizens are. And I think that even the most conservative prolifer, opposed to artificial birth control as either disrespectful of women's bodies or as playing God, will be likewise appalled at the motivation to deny women birth control because the government looked on them as breeding machines.

    Frankly, I think there's a lot for us to be jointly appalled at here:

    Doctors, Pregnancy, Childbirth and Abortion during the Third Reich.

    HT: Jill Stanek

    Safe and lethal anniversary: Mitsue Mohar

    Thirty-one-year-old Mitsue Mohar went to Pacolma Lutheran Hospital in Los Angeles County for a D&C abortion on August 5, 1975. Dr. Baca performed the abortion under general anesthesia. After the abortion, Mitsue went into convulsions. She remained 16 days at Pacolma Lutheran without regaining consciousness.

    On August 21, she was transferred to LA County/USC Medical Center, where she died on September 10 without ever regaining consciousness. The autopsy found that she had suffered hypoxic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest during the abortion, and had developed pneumonia which eventually killed her.

    Audio of woman's testimony about coerced illegal abortion

    Listen here to the testimony given by Michelle Arnesto-Berg before a joint interim legislative committee examining late-term abortions in Kansas on September 7, 2007. Depending on how you count -- from conception or from her last period -- Michelle had been 24 or 26 weeks pregnant. She'd been browbeaten into the abortion by her family. The procedure was started -- irreversibly, since the very first thing they did was administer a lethal injection to the fetus -- before she ever met with a counselor or underwent a medical history or examination or even had blood work done.

    She said that the other patients who were also having late abortions at Tiller's facility were there for social reasons. Nobody had any physical or fetal indication that they mentioned to her at all.

    I'll get up a link to a transcript if one becomes available. The audio is usually pretty good, but there are often distractng noises, and the people questioning Michelle at the end are often difficult to hear.

    Sunday, September 09, 2007

    Anniversary: Woman's death -- likely from criminal abortion -- ruins an innocent man

    In 1921, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was one of the highest paid men in Hollywood. But on September 5 of that year, Arbuckle's life took a horrible turn nobody could have predicted. An aspiring actress, 25-year-old Virginia Rappe (pronounced ra-pay), took ill under strange circumstances at a weekend party Arbuckle was holding at a San Francisco hotel. Four days later, she was dead.

    Arbuckle stood trial three times for Virginia's death. Two of the trials ended with hung juries. The third brought an unprecedented apology from the jury:

    "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him ... there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgement of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame."


    Arbuckle had done nothing to harm the girl. He was accused of murder by one Maude Delmont, aka "Madame Black." Delmont ran a blackmail scam, in which she'd provide young women to entertain men at Hollywood parties. A girl would claim that she was raped by some prominent man, who would then pay off Delmont to keep quiet. Delmont's story was so outrageous -- as was her character -- the prosecutors never called her as a witness.

    But Arbuckle's name had already been dragged through the mud. The stories of bootleg liquor and wild women had done their damage. Arbuckle was banned from the screen. Although the ban was lifted in December of 1922, Arbuckle's career never recovered. He died of a heart attack in 1933, just as he was starting to recover financially and personally from his ordeal.

    The allegations varied: that Arbuckle had raped Virginia, rupturing her insides with his 266-pound weight; that he was drunk and impotent and therefore angrily violated the girl with a wine bottle, or a Coke bottle, or a jagged piece of ice.

    The booze-addled party-goers were not very consistent sources of information about exactly what happened. What is agreed upon is that Virginia stumbled into a bathroom at some point on Monday. Arbuckle followed her. He later said that he found her hunched over the toilet, vomiting and in pain. He moved her to his bed, where he hoped she would sleep it off. He then rejoined the party.

    Virginia's condition deteriorated. At some point, she became hysterical, screaming that she was dying and tearing her clothes off. Arbuckle and Delmont argued over what to do next.

    The drunken party guests eventually decided to put the nude Virginia into a bathtub of ice water. Some reports have Arbuckle placing a piece of ice near or in Virginia's vagina, which may have contributed to the claim that he'd injured her insides with a sharp piece of ice.

    Of course, this did nothing to help Virginia, who continued to scream. Arbuckle carried her to another room and summoned doctors. The guests, thinking Virginia was just hung over, continued to party.

    Virginia was not taken to a hospital until Thursday. She taken not to a regular hospital, but to Wakefield Sanitorium, a maternity hospital known for performing quasi-legal abortions. Virginia died the next day, Friday, September 9. The cause of death was listed as peritonitis due to a ruptured bladder due to "external force."

    The next day, Arbuckle was charged.

    Arbuckle's defense attorney brought forth Josephine Roth, who testified that Virginia had five times availed her self of services at Roth's clinic: four times for abortions, and once to give birth to a baby. This information might seem to be unnecessarily slamming the victim, but turns out to be very relevant.

    Although Virginia's ruptured bladder was produced as evidence in the trial, her reproductive organs had vanished after the autopsy. The autopsy was performed illegally on site at Wakefield Sanitorium, without consulting the coroner's office. One of the doctors overseeing the autopsy, Dr. Melville Rumswell, was reputed to be an abortionist.

    Without the uterus and vagina, there was no way of knowing if Virginia had indeed suffered blunt vaginal trauma inflicted by Arbuckle.

    Blunt-force trauma would have made a strong case against Arbuckle. But sharp instrument trauma would have cleared Arbuckle and pointed the finger at whoever performed a final, eventually fatal, abortion on Virginia Rappe.

    There is also the mystery of why Delmont directed suspicion toward Arbuckle. She was a blackmailer. Why didn't she milk Arbuckle for money? Why didn't she simply allow the police to investigate the death of the young women? To these questions, we can add two others: Why had Virginia's uterus, ovaries, and vagina been removed and disposed of? And why was Virginia brought to a marginal facility like Wakefield Sanitarium?

    One theory that answers the mysteries is this: Perhaps Delmont had a hand in arranging an illegal abortion that ruptured Virginia's bladder. When Virginia took ill, perhaps Delmont directed her to the Sanitarium, where the abortion may well have been performed -- where there would be accomplices who would also have a motive to keep the real reason for Virginia's death secret. And after the girl died, perhaps Delmont concocted the rape story to create a scandal that would divert attention away from herself.

    This is, of course, speculation. But since an abortionist could face murder charges if a patient died -- and since an accomplice likewise would face a prison sentence -- it's the only scenario that explains the otherwise inexplicable behavior of Delmont and whoever got rid of Virginia's uterus and vagina.

    Saturday, September 08, 2007

    Another abortion song

    You can't embed it, but you can watch it here. Lyrics here, backstory here.

    Up the stairs to the apartment
    She is balled up on the couch
    Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
    They're not home to find us out
    And we drive
    Now that I have found someone
    I'm feeling more alone
    Than I ever have before

    ....

    They call her name at 7:30
    I pace around the parking lot
    Then I walk down to buy her flowers
    ....
    Now she's feeling more alone
    Than she ever has before

    ....

    As weeks went by
    It showed that she was not fine
    ...
    She broke down, and I broke down
    Cause I was tired of lying

    Driving home to her apartment
    For a moment we're alone
    Yeah she's alone
    I'm alone
    Now I know it


    Gosh, can't anybody write a positive, upbeat song about abortion? It's a miracle restorative! You'd think that the songs would reflect that.

    HT: Jill Stanek

    Ya gotta love The Onion

    Woman Overjoyed By Giant Uterine Parasite

    NEW BRIGHTON, MN—Immediately following a physician's examination for her menstrual cessation, 37-year-old events planner Janice Crowley told reporters Tuesday that she is "ecstatic" with her diagnosis of a rapidly growing intrauterine parasite.

    "I'm so happy!" Crowley said of the golf ball–sized, nutrient-sapping organism embedded deep in the wall of her uterus. "I was beginning to think this would never happen to me."


    Note for the humor-impaired: The Onion does satire. They make fun of things. It's not a serious news story. Okay?

    Here's another one: End-Life Crisis Marked By Extravagant Spending Spree

    Friday, September 07, 2007

    Anniversary: One of many victims of Moshe Hachamovitch

    Tanya Williamson is referred to as "Patient A" in medical board documents pertaining to her abortionist, Moshe Hachamovitch. By cross-matching details with outside sources, I was able to identify her by name.

    Tanya had laminaria inserted at Hachamovitch's facility on September 6, 1996, for an early second-trimester abortion. Hachamovtich estimated that she was almost 14 weeks pregnant. He instructed Tanya to return the next day for her abortion.

    Tanya returned on September 7, as instructed. According to medical board documents, "At or about 11:00 a.m. Patient A was given Valium 10 mg." This medication was not noted on clinic documents that were given to Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Gori, who then administered 150 mg. of Brevitol at about 1:50 p.m., whereupon Hachamovitch performed the abortion.

    The medical board then notes, "150 mg. Of Brevital causes loss of consciousness and also potentially decreases the patient’s respiratory rate and blood pressure. The amount of Brevital administered to this patient would cause respiratory depression for approximately 30 minutes. The majority of that time Patient A was in the recovery room. The level of respiratory depression is tied into the amount of stimulation of the patient. Surgery is a very strong stimulus, once that is removed the respiratory depression increases."

    Records are conflicting as to who administered Pitocin and Methergine to Tanya, and what the dose was and what the route was. Either that, or she got double dosed.

    "When Patient A was transferred from the operating room table to the gurney for transfer to the recovery room she was still anesthetized.," noted the medical board. "She was unable to move herself from the operating table to the gurney. Patient A never responded verbally to the CRNA. Shortly after Patient A was transferred to the recovery room, her pulse and oxygen saturation levels were taken and the pulse oximeter was removed from her finger." (emphasis mine)

    A pulse oximeter montiors both the patient's pulse, and the patient's oxygen level in her blood. By removing the pulse oximeter, the staff eliminated a vital source of information about Tanya's well-being as she came out of anesthesia.

    The medical board notes that at 2 p.m., after 5 minutes in recovery, Tanya's blood pressure was 96/80, and her pulse 68. This is within normal limits. At 15 minutes (2:10 p.m.), Tanya's blood pressure had fallen to 60/40, her pulse to 52, and her respirations were shallow. Such a sharp fall in blood pressure is an alarming sign that the patient might be going into shock or suffering other life-threatening problems. The falling blood pressure is especially alarming in combination with shallow breathing.

    At 2:11 p.m., Tanya's pulse was noted as "thready," which means weak and irratic. Her blood pressure was so low that it could not be measured with a cuff. The medical board noted, "At this point, a patient without an obtainable blood pressure and a barely palpable pulse was functionally in cardiac arrest. Respondent was notified of the problem with Patient A at approximately 2:15 p.m."

    Hachamovitch examined Tanya in recovery, started a new IV with D5W and Ephedrine, then told the recovery room nurse to do CPR, and somebody to call Emergency Medical Services (EMS). EMS Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) was dispatched at 2:40 and arrived at 2:41 to find Tanya "cyanotic, non-responsive, pulseless, apneic and her pupils were fixed and dilated."
    ACLS took Tanya's vital signs, attached a cardiac monitor, and properly placed a breathing tube to help get oxygen into Tanya's lungs.

    One ACLS team member "then hooked up the Respondent's equipment which the CRNA had been using to ventilate the patient to the intubation tube. He checked for lung sounds and abdominal sounds. There were not lung sounds nor were there any abdominal sounds. By that time the EMTs arrived and one came over with the EMS BVM [bag-valve mask, a device for pumping oxygen into a patient's lungs]."

    The ACLS team member switched over to the EMT's ventilation unit, and was able to hear oxygen being moved in and out of both of Tanya's lungs. This indicates that Hachamovitch's CRNA had been using useless, broken equipment on Tanya.

    The medical board said, "When respondent arrived in the recovery room, he should have immediately ascertained the patient's pulse, blood pressure, and if there were vaginal bleeding. This should have taken between 20 seconds and, at the outside, two to three minutes. He should have realized that the patient was in cardiac arrest and started ACLS. The cause of the arrest was not relevant at that point; the immediate treatment was the same. Given the clinical picture of this patient at 2:15 p.m. when Respondent was called to the recovery room EMS should have been called immediately and the patient intubated. Even if Patient A were only in a near arrest situation Respondent should have immediately call EMS and instituted the rest of ACLS protocol. Advanced Cardiac Life Support consists of immediate call to EMS for transfer to hospital, intubation, EKG monitoring so that if the patient requires defibrillation, the rhythm and appropriate ACLS drugs are known. This patient’s condition had to be treated in a hospital setting, the sooner the patient were to get to the hospital, the better her chances of survival."

    Despite the fact that Hachamovitch had the equipment to put a breathing tube into Tanya, she was being given oxygen with a face mask. There was no note that Hachamovitch had even inserted an airway, which is a small device that keeps the patient's tongue from blocking air from getting into the lungs.

    The medical board noted, "Epinephrine and Atropine were the appropriate ACLS drugs to administer. These drugs help to restore cardiac function. Respondent had these drugs in his office but failed to given them to Patient A. Respondent instead administered Ephedrine. Ephedrine is not sufficient to restore cardiac function."

    "At no time during Patient A's stay in the recovery room did Respondent or any of his staff monitor the patient with an EKG. Respondent had an EKG and a cardiac defibrillator available, which he never used on Patient A," the board further noted. "Such a failure deviated from accepted medical standards."

    The board also noted that the reading from the pulse oximeter, taken just as Tanya was being moved to recovery, was not credible given her condition, and that Hachamovitch should not have relied upon a pulse oximeter reading given Tanya's obvious distress. (The board didn't bother to chew him out for taking the pulse oximeter off her finger, when even an EMT would have left it in place.)

    "According to the chart, Patient A was responsive when she entered the recovery room and at 2:00 p.m. she was stable. By 2:10 p.m., the patient developed hypotension, bradycardia [abnormally slow pulse] and probably respiratory depression." Appropriate treatment, the board said, would have been "endotracheal intubation and administration of supplemental oxygen."

    "A physician who performs surgical procedures, i.e. abortion, under general anesthesia in free standing outpatient facilities, has an obligation to recognize when a patient is in cardiac arrest and to know how to resuscitate the patient. Respondent did not recognize that Patient A was in cardiac arrest. Respondent did not carry out generally recognized resuscitation measures in this patient."

    "For patients following general anesthesia, monitoring in a recovery room consists of the following: electrocardiogram monitoring and pulse oximeter for the initial stage of recovery – the initial period where the patient is not yet fully responsive to stimuli, or when the patient is not completely awake. It may be in that initial period that the patient, when questioned, or when stimulated, will be responsive. But during the initial period, if the patient is not stimulated, they may become more depressed and have depressed respiratory function. Each patient, in the primary stages of recovery from general anesthesia should have available in individual EKG, a pulse oximeter and a blood pressure cuff. The vital signs must be documented every five minutes until the patient is fully responsive to stimuli and the patient must be observed by staff for respiratory rate and effort, cardiac rate and rhythm, as well as color. The recovery room should be staffed by nurses and other medical personnel who have specific training in recovery room cases."

    On Saturday, September 7, 1996, the day Tanya died, Hachamovitch had one R.N. in the recovery room, along with a medical assistant, a sonographer and a receptionist from the front who went to the recovery room to help when the recovery room was busy. The sonographer was not trained to observe patients recovering from anesthesia. The receptionist had taken a medical secretary course, and did not have any special training in caring for patients covering from general anesthesia.

    At the time Tanya was brought into the recovery room, there were nine other patients in the room, and yet another patient was brought in a few minutes after Tanya. One of those nine patients already in the recovery room was shaking and almost convulsing.

    The board noted that Hachamovitch's recovery room was not sufficiently staffed to adequately monitor patients recovering from general anesthesia.

    The board also noted, "Respondent's medical record did not accurately reflect the care and treatment rendered to patient A."

    "The Committee was particularly troubled by the testimony of CRNA Gori. The Committee found particularly incredible her testimony that she held the patient’s nose and listened for breath sounds. .... Monitoring of patients recovering from general anesthesia should consist of electrocardiogram monitoring and a pulse oximeter for the initial stage of recovery and these patients should be stimulated during the initial stage of recovery. There was no evidence presented on the Respondent’s behalf that this was done. To the contrary, the evidence establishes that the Respondent did not follow this protocol. Specifically, the patient was not observed other than at five-minute intervals to take vital signs. There is no evidence that the Respondent ever attempted to stimulate the patient."

    "The Committee also found that the Respondent failed to run a continuous IV line in the Patient A’s arm until she was free of the effects of the anesthesia. The Respondent's own testimony indicates that he had to run another IV line in order to give the patient the mediations more rapidly. This testimony establishes that the patient did not have a patent [in-place, functioning] IV line that was sufficient for the administration of the mediations that would have been required in an emergency, such as the instant situation."

    "The Respondent's recovery room lacked an individual EKG machine for each patient recovering from general anesthesia as well as an individual pulse oximeter and blood pressure cuff for each recovering patient." The board suspended Hachamovitch's license, and added probationary requirements that he was to be supervised by an anesthesiologist who had no conflict of interest, that Hachamovitch maintain ACLS certification, and that he maintain at least one staffer in recovery who is ACLS certified.

    Hachamovitch also allowed Luz Rodriguez to bleed to death under his care. He performed a classic back-alley abortion on Christina Goesswein, resulting in her death. Jammie Garcia died at one of Hachamovitch's facilities in Texas, though I'm not certain it was Hachamovitch himself who did the damage. Lisa Bardsley and Lou Ann Herron also died in a clinic owned by Hachamovitch.

    Anniversary: Not even pregnant, abortion and ligation prove fatal

    Twenty-four-year-old Synthia Dennard went to Biogenetics in Chicago for an abortion and tubal ligation on September 7, 1989. The surgery was performed by Inno Obasi.

    Synthia began to hemorrhage during the surgery. A medical investigation later found that Obasi had "failed to summon help in a timely manner; refused to allow trained and skilled paramedics to attend to Synthia; refused to allow paramedics to transport Synthia to a hospital in a timely manner," and otherwise "allowed Synthia to bleed to death."

    Synthia's survivors had to file a court order to keep the facility from destroying her records. An autopsy revealed that instead of removing a section of Synthia's fallopian tube, Obasi had removed a portion of an artery. The autopsy also revealed that Synthia, mother of two, had not been pregnant at the time of her abortion.

    Monday, September 03, 2007

    SAND IS NOT SNOW!

    This sounds obvious, but there's been yet another needless death -- this one a 10-year-old boy.

    People dig in sand and play with it was if it were snow, which lends itself well to making caves and tunnels and foxholes. SAND DOES NOT. Not to mention sand is significantly heavier than snow.

    Please, folks, raise kids to know that you don't dig horizontally into sand, and you should never dig a hole more than knee-deep.

    This family will never be right again. As somebody who lost a sibling in a freak childhood accident, I speak from experience. These sand collapse deaths are so preventable! Teach your kids -- and your friends -- to play safe at the beach.

    Anniversary: Abortion tourism kills mother, too

    After California legalized abortion on demand in 1970, a Texas company began selling abortion referrals and air fare. Twenty-year-old Katherine Morse was one customer.

    Katherine was admitted to Bel Air Memorial Hospital in LA County on September 1, 1972. (Until Roe v. Wade, California abortions were performed in hospitals, and many hospitals opened specializing in abortion.) John Dupont initiated a saline abortion on Katherine. Katherine dveloped a 102 degree fever, then expelled the dead baby just after midnight on September 3.

    Katherine's blood pressure rose, she went into shock, and was pronounced dead by Dupot at 9:40 AM. An autopsy found sepsis, and gangrene of the ovary.

    September 3 also marks a criminal abortion death. On that day in 1903, Mrs. Florence Gaiewski died in St. Mary's Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Ladislaw Slominski was arrested September 4, held by Coroner's Jury September 8, and indicted for felony murder,but discharged by a Grand Jury.

    Healed hearts on the horizon -- but no pithed embyros! Bummer!

    Heart patients to get valves grown from their cells

    What a shame that the ASC researchers keep kicking the asses of the ESC researchers!

    Come on, guys! Try poducing ONE cure that's not just pie in the sky! The ASC geeks are mopping the floor with you!

    Anniversary: Death after abortion by the notorious Dr. Hagenow

    Marie Hicht, employed as a domestic on Dearborn Avenue, died September 2, 1899 at the office of Dr. Louise Hagenow from complications of an abortion performed there that day.

    Dr. Hagenow was sentenced to Joliet prison in 1900 for Marie's death.

    It is likely that this Dr. Louise Hagenow is the Dr. Lucy Hagenow mentioned in Leslie J. Reagan's book, When Abortion Was A Crime. Reagan says that Dr. Lucy Hagenow was connected with the 1899 abortion death of a patient. I doubt that there wre two Hagenows in the Chicago area both practicing abortion who both killed patients the same year.

    Other deaths attributed to Louise or Lucy Hagenow are:

  • Lottie Lowy
  • Bridget Masterson
  • Nina H. Pierce
  • Mary Moorehead
  • Jean Cohen
  • Elizabeth Welte

    These deaths underscore how important it is to make sure that abortion laws have some teeth, and that quacks get locked up where they can't harm anybody any more.
  • Sunday, September 02, 2007

    Edwards only pro-choice on abortion

    But he wants the Nanny State to have total control of our bodies. Men, turn your head and cough. Women, put your feet in the stirrups and relax. Because if Edwards has his way, you will no longer get to choose whether or not you get some guy with a rubber glove prodding around your body.

    This just goes to show that for at least this one guy, being "prochoice" isn't about resepecting women's bodily integrity, because he clearly doens't recognize anybody's right to bodily integrity. Edwards wants to turn this country into a prison where strip-searches for illicit illness are routine for everybody.

    Let's run his cojones through a mammogram machine and see how he likes having his tender parts squished on somebody else's command.

    Abortion leads to hysterectomy; woman sues PP

    Woman alleges medical malpractice after abortion

    A 40-year-old Nebraska woman said in a lawsuit filed Friday that she had an emergency hysterectomy because of a botched abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Lincoln last month.

    The woman, who is not named in the lawsuit, said she lost four liters of blood — the equivalent of 80 percent of the average woman’s blood volume, according to the lawsuit — and that the procedure caused her excruciating pain.

    ....

    [Abortionist Meryl Severson] resigned from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in March 2001 after performing an elective abortion in 2000 in violation of university policy. He joined Planned Parenthood in May 2001.

    ....

    According to the lawsuit, the woman was about eight weeks pregnant when she contacted Planned Parenthood in July and scheduled an abortion at the South Street Center. .... [A]ccording to the suit, the woman had an ultrasound, which indicated a tilted uterus. [She] was taken to an examination room and given an injection in her cervix, the lawsuit said. She then heard a suction sound, felt pressure in the uterus and “immediately complained of excruciating pain.”

    When she told Severson and the attendants to stop, the suit said, the doctor replied, “We can’t stop.” Three employees then held the woman down while Severson completed the suction, according to the lawsuit.

    Afterward, the woman felt sharp pain, nausea and was bleeding, the lawsuit said. While in the recovery area, her friend tried to help her to a bathroom, but she passed out, fell to the floor and suffered the first of three seizures, the lawsuit said.

    ....

    A signed operative report from a physician at the hospital said the woman had experienced a “catastrophic perforation” of the uterus during the abortion. ....Because of the “extensive nature of the trauma,” the report said, the physician summoned a second doctor and they performed an emergency hysterectomy on the woman. The doctors took photographs of the uterus to show the damage, according to the lawsuit.

    Saturday, September 01, 2007

    Lawmaking 101

    Make it clear whose job it is to detect violations and to pursue prosecution! Duh!

    Kansas Agencies Pass the Buck at Abortion Hearings

    Regarding Kansas law on post-viability abortions, it seems that it's nobody's responsibility to actually enforce it:

    At issue is the Kansas ban on post-viability abortions..., which late-term abortionist George R. Tiller of Wichita has been accused of violating. That law states that abortions after 21 weeks can only be done to prevent maternal death that would be caused by the pregnancy or to "prevent substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman." It also states that before such abortions can take place, two doctors not financially or legally associated must both conclude that the abortions are medically justifiable under the provisions of the law. Those abortions must be reported to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) with the reason and basis for the abortion.

    However, Greg Crawford of the KDHE told the committee that his job is simply to make sure that the forms submitted by abortionists have no empty fields. He said he makes no "judgment call" about the content of the field nor does he report any incidents where he may suspect an abortion has taken place illegally.

    "I think an abortionist could put his dog's name in those fields, and the KDHE would consider that as acceptable," said Newman. "It makes the law requiring reporting for the purpose of enforcement a joke."

    Larry Buening, Executive Director of the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA), the agency responsible for policing abortionists, also testified and was aggressively questioned by the committee. He told them that the KSBHA does not automatically receive abortion reporting forms from the KDHE and therefore are unable to make any determinations about whether abortionists are following the law.


    Oh, brother!