Four anniversaries

Grace Wolf, a young married woman, traveled from her home in Lansing to the office of Dr. C. Allen Snyder in Dubuque, Iowa, on November 19, 1917. She arrived at about 8:00 in the evening. Shortly after leaving, she took ill, and her condition deteriorated until her death on December 3. The defense argued that Grace was unhappy about her pregnancy and had made several attempts to abort before going to Dr. Snyder. Dr. Snyder said that she was already suffering from fever and septicemia when she arrived at his office, and that he treated her only briefly. The autopsy had found evidence of recent pregnancy and a puncture in Grace's uterus. Dr. Snyder was convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

On December 3, 1977, 29-year-old Jacqueline Bailey bled to death when her uterus ruptured during a saline abortion performed by Dr. Eboreime at Pacific Glen Hospital in Los Angeles County. Two years earlier, Cheryl Tubbs also bled to death from a ruptured uterus caused by a saline abortion at Pacific Glen.

Twenty-three-year-old Cora Mae Lewis had her safe and legal abortion at Inglewood Women's Hospital on November 4, 1983. She had gonorrhea at the time of the abortion, which led to inflammation of the cervix and uterus. Cora developed an aggressive infection which killed her on December 3. Other deaths currently attributed to Inglewood are Yvonne Tanner, Kathy Murphy, Belinda Byrd, Lynette Wallace, and Elizabeth Tsuji.

Meanwhile, on the other coast, 18-year-old "Ellen" Roe died of complications of a second-trimester abortion performed on November 29 by Andre Nehorayoff. Nehorayoff was disciplined by the medical board for multiple failures to provide Ellen with safe, appropriate care, including failing to enter any information into her medical chart and knowingly sending Ellen home with pieces of her dead fetus still inside her body, including a fetal leg protruding from her cervix. She bled to death. Nehorayoff was also disciplined regarding "Faye" Roe, whom he left in a recovery room following her abortion on December 15, 1979, without any monitoring. She turned blue and no pulse could be detected. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Teresa Causey clutched her mother's hand during her safe and legal abortion by Joe Wesley McDaniel on December 3, 1988. Her mother later said that 17-year-old Teresa's last words were, "Oh, mama, mama, it hurts so much!" Then she lost consciousness on the abortion table. When McDaniel was unable to awaken her, he tried smelling salts, slapped her face, then tried to reach another doctor before finally calling an ambulance. Teresa had two perforations of her uterus and two lacerated veins. She died of massive hemorrhage the day of her abortion. An investigation found that McDaniel had been operating in an unlicensed facility, and that he had broken the law requiring abortions after 13 weeks be done in a hospital; Teresa had been 15 weeks pregnant. No charges were pressed against McDaniel for Teresa's death, the illegal abortion, or the unlicensed facility. Teresa left behind two children.