Friday, September 23, 2011

1899, 1907, and 1971.

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.

On September 23, 1907, Mrs. Mabel Brock of Lake Station, Indiana, died in Chicago's John Streeter Hospital. The coroner's jury determined that she had died from an abortion performed by midwife Mrs. Lobbie from Hobart, Indiana. I've been unable to learn if the abortion was performed in Chicago or somewhere in Indiana.

"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 stopped. Efforts to save her failed. She died on September 23, 1971, leaving behind five children. The autopsy could find no anatomical cause of death.

Of course, abortion supporters claim that though Barbara's death was tragic, it was simply a matter of all surgery having risks rather than a matter of an abortionist irresponsibly killing a patient. If you believe that, click on the word "saline" and read about how inexcusable it was for American abortionists to adopt a method that was handy for them but known to be excessively dangerous for women.

Abortion supporters will also claim that again, though Barbara's death was tragic, it was a total fluke because legalization made abortion so much less risky, and deaths so much less common. This claim isn't supported by reality.

During the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. For the abortion lobby to claim credit for other people's success is deceitful and inexcusable. Learn more here.

external image MaternalMortality.gif
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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