More Born-Alive Babies and Their Fates

I'm going through my e-files for stories of what happens to babies who are born alive during abortions. I'm just doing a search for "baby" and cleaning up my notes for your edification. When you read these cases, keep Barack Obama's words in mind:

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Occasionally instead of a normal source you'll see a code. That's so that when I drag my files down out of the attic I can look and see the document in question and fill in what it is.

An August 2, 1981 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer said that in July of 1979, Dr. Boyd Cooper performed an abortion at 23 weeks at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The 1 lb 2 oz infant boy gasped and tried to breathe. No efforts were made to revive the infant due to the parents' wishes and the infant's size. The baby was placed in a utility room used as an infant morgue. Cooper instructed nurse, "Leave the baby there -- it will die." The nurse testified that the baby was still gasping in the closet when she returned to work 12 hours later. Cooper then finally agreed to allow the baby to be transferred to intensive care, where he died 4 days later. Despite having left the child gasping, cold and alone, in a morgue for over twelve hours, the baby's death was ruled accidental.

Dr. Joseph Durante was put on probation for five years Sept. 3, 1996, over case where a baby survived an abortion at San Diego Womancare. Durante was fined $14,000. (M29, M207) There was also an incident in 1980, when Baby Boy Sanchez was supposedly born alive at Indio Community Hospital, I’d guess after an abortion. Durante had announced that the baby was dead, and had the body incinerated. (M207) Also: Melisha W., age 17, underwent an abortion by Joseph Durante at Womancare on March 7, 1992. Durante did not follow standard exam procedures or use an ultrasound. He estimated that Melisha was 11-12 weeks pregnant, but during the abortion he discovered that the fetus was much larger than he expected. Only then did Durante perform an ultrasound, which revealed a 25-26 week fetus. Durante gave Melisha painkillers and referred her to a facility specializing in late abortions. Melisha's mother instead took her to Kaiser medical center, where infant Victoria G. was born weighing 1 lb 13 oz. The baby suffered physical and cognitive disabilities. (Why Would Planned Parenthood Bother?)

The Edelin case is fairly well-known. Dr. Kenneth Edelin, a member of the National Abortion Federation's Standards Committee, had been convicted for manslaughter in the case of an infant boy aborted by hysterotomy (a c-section in which you intend for fetal death rather than live birth) in 1973 at Boston City Hospital. Edelin had estimated fetal age a 20-22 weeks pre-abortion. Witnesses said Edelin smothered the baby, and the prosecution held that at 1 lb 8 oz, the infant was viable. The prosecution also said that a right to abortion constituted a right to terminate a pregnancy, not a right to a dead baby. The defense contended that the death of the baby -- okay, they said fetus -- is a desired and foregone conclusion in such cases. Edelin's conviction was overturned on the grounds that the jury had been improperly instructed. Edelin later became national chairman of Planned Parenthood. (Omaha World-Herald 10-19-79; Philadelphia Inquirer 8-2-81; also cited in Orange County Superior Court Case No. C-37815)

Dr. Gordon Sean Goei was arrested on March 19, 1998, on suspicion of murdering a 26-week preemie born live during an abortion Goei had performed six days after his license had been suspended for failing to pass a competency exam. The charge was reduced to practicing medicine without a license and illegally performing an abortion. The fetus had been found in a trash bag at Centro Mexico Family Planning Clinic. The mother was age 42. She had been rushed to a hospital for severe bleeding, and the police found had found the baby's mutilated body in a dumpster. The baby's death was ruled a homicide due to “blunt force trauma.” Later reports placed the baby's age as 30-32 weeks. Goei's license had been revoked in 1995, but the revocation was overturned by order of an Administrative Law judge because although the Medical Board had sent two letters by surface mail, and another two by registered mail, Goei hadn’t gotten the letters. A witness for Goei said that he had opened the letters, felt sorry for Goei, and hidden them. ((M20, M195, M196, M197, M199, M200)

Dr. Joseph Melnick was convicted of infanticide and unlawful abortion after the death of 32-week infant girl (3 lb, 9 oz) born during an abortion Melnick performed on a 13-year-old girl at what was then West Park Hospital, Philadelphia, in 1984. The nursing supervisor testified that "Baby Girl Smith" showed signs of life and gasped and moaned following the abortion, others in the room pointed out infant's condition and requested that Melnick aid the infant. The nursing supervisor attempted CPR on the baby, detecting a heartbeat. She found a death certificate filled out by Melnick stating that the infant was stillborn. She tore up the death certificate, whereupon Mewlnick filled out a birth certificate for the infant. Another doctor ordered resuscitation, but the baby died after 90 minutes. Melnick indicated on medical records that he observed "agonal breathing" in the infant, which he defined for the judge as "It's the last effort a human being makes to sustain life." After the judge asked him three times he admitted that agonal breathing would not be observed in a stillborn infant. An autopsy found that the infant had a full head of hair, and skin typical of a term infant. Melnick allegedly admitted, "After the fact, it occurred to me that I had miscalculated." He also admitted that when the patient insisted that she was four months pregnant, Melnick noted the size of the infant and told her "if that's true, your baby would have been 18 pounds at birth." Melnick's defense claimed that the prosecution was based on "frustration raised over the abortion issue" rather than the evidence, and that a conviction would have "chilling effect" on other doctors' willinglness to perform abortions. (LA Times Magazine 1-7-90; Houston Chronicle 6-13-89; United Press International 10-3-84; Associated Press 3-16-89, 5-13-89, 6-12-89, 12-20-89)

Dr. Raymond Showery was found guilty in 1983 of the 1979 murder of a 5-7 month baby aborted by hysterotomy (cutting the mother open and taking the baby out to die). Five of his employees testified that the infant girl had light brown hair, was about a foot long, and curled up in Showery's hand. One employee saw the infant apparently attempting to breathe as Showery held the placenta over her face. Showery then dropped her into a bucket of water. His employees testified that bubbles rose to the surface. Showery then put the baby in a plastic bag which was tied and put at the end of the operating room. The bag moved as though someone were breathing in it, then the bag stopped moving. One witness said he was holding the bag as Showery put the infant in, and that he later put the bag in the freezer where fetuses were stored. Showery was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison even though the body of the infant was never found and employees could not identify the patient upon whom the abortion was performed. The jury chose to convict for murder even though they had the option of convicting for manslaughter. A news report said that Showery, "his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes," denied all the allegations. "I never killed a baby," Showery said, "and if I'm not telling you the truth, may I die right now." Showery had also been convicted of a felony charge of altering his hospital's records, which hindered the state's attempts to locate the woman. The former employees alleged that Showery falsified records on all patients over 20 weeks pregnant, saying they were all exactly 20 weeks pregnant, and that such abortions were routine. One former employee, Gloria, said she assisted in abortions in which Showery would sedate the patient, dilate the cervix, and pull the fetus out with forceps. "He wanted them in pieces, but a lot of times they would come out whole." She said that she saw signs of life in at least two fetuses aborted this way. Another former employee, Belinda, said she looked away as Showery removed a fetus through a hysterotomy incision, and that when she turned back Showery had placed the fetus in a plastic bag within a bucket "and just waited until it stopped moving." She said the fetus squirmed and wiggled for about 10 seconds. Former employee Anita alleged that for late abortions, "He walks in, closes the door, and locks it." She also said Showery instructed them, "If you see any movement or anything, you don't see anything, you don't know anything," and that he always asked employees to look away when the fetus was extracted. A former employee said the fetuses would be put in plastic bags and frozen, that employees did not know what became them but that someone removed them from the freezer. An autopsy on a male fetus identified as Baby John Doe #81-01, found among other fetuses in the freezer at Showery's hospital, was inconclusive as to whether he was born live due to decomposition during thawing. The fetus was just over 2 pounds, just over 13 inches long, with sparse dark hair; the autopsy also found meconium, usually found in the intestine of full-term fetuses. Showery denied ever performing abortions after 20 weeks, and is quoted as saying, "If that baby takes a breath, that's life. Now the department of vital statistics comes into it and you fill out death certificates. It cried once. It took life. It took breath. It becomes a person. You cannot dispose of it with hospital wastage. It must go to the mortician and et cetera." Family Hospital was not known to have ever filed fetal death certificates. While out on bail pending appeal of the murder conviction, Showery performed the fatal abortion on Mickey Apodaca. (New York Times 4-29-84; DesMoines Register 5-5-84; El Paso County Offense Report No. 00-380101, Houston Chronicle 6-9-85; El Paso Times 9-22-83, 9-23-83, April 5-8, 1981; Dallas Morning News 4-20-84, Dallas Times-Herald 9-29-83)

The woman in the following case never consented to an abortion, but I'll include it because I think it illustrates the attitude some abortionists have toward infants. Carmen H., age 36, reported that in 1983 she was 8 months pregnant to Dr. Pravin Thakkar, who had seduced her when she was his patient. He gave her drugs while she was at his house, knocking her out. She briefly awoke to hear the muffled sound of a baby's cry. Thakkar told her the baby was still-born while she was unconscious. She did not consent to terminate the pregnancy. No death certificate was filed for the fetus. Thacker was convicted in the baby's death. (Tyler Morning Telegraph 6-12-91, 6-13-91; Associated Press 2-9-89)

I have this mysterious note: Baby Roe survived Allred abortion saline, born 7 PM, kept 7 hours, sent to USC medical center, died next day 10 AM. ()

Ohio State University Hospital faced a lawsuit filed by Joseph M. He said his infant girl was alive when expelled during an abortion performed on Joseph's wife, Peggy, on September 9, 1981. Joseph faulted staff Debra Clapp and Mervyn Samuel with failure to take measures to preserve the child's life, resulting in her death. The baby was estimated to be of 20 weeks gestation, and sent to the pathology lab with permission of her mother, and destroyed before Joseph could request an autopsy. Defendants contended that the baby was nonviable and therefore by definition dead upon delivery. Joseph's case was dismissed. (Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 83CV-09-5231)

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