Equally tragic

On November 14, 1928, 21-year-old Eunice McElroy died in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. Dr. Thomas J. Ney was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder in Eunice's death. Eunice's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.



Forty-four years later, on November 14, 1972, 21-year-old Twila Coulter died in a California hospital. Twila had traveled from her home in Colorado to California for a safe, legal abortion. Twila was injected with saline on November 13, then expelled the dead fetus and the placenta the following day. Twila had no blood pressure and was bleeding from IV sites. She was given oxygen and three units of blood and transferred to a fully-equipped hospital. Upon arrival, Twila was comatose and bleeding heavily. Doctors removed some retained pregnancy tissue and sutured numerous uterine injuries, but were unable to address her clotting problems. Twila died of cerebral hemorrhage. Despite the fact that her doctor had chosen an antiquated, dangerous abortion method, nobody was prosecuted in Twila's death. After all, her abortion was legal. There was no longer any call to hold anyone accountable for her death.

I fail to see any improvement. Twila is just as dead as Eunice. And I will never understand the mentality of looking at a tragic death like Eunice McElroy's and responding with "We need to stop punishing the guys who do things like this."

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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