The Fatality Fairy has Failed me Again

Supporters of legal abortion sometimes snark at me based on the assumption that the post-Roe deaths on the Cemetery of Choice somehow include every single woman who has lost her life to a safe, legal abortion. I've often wondered how it is that they conclude that I magically know about all of them. Does the Fatality Fairy leave a summary under my pillow?

Well, if that's how it happens, the Fatality Fairy has fallen asleep on the job, because thanks to the diligent young 'uns at Life Report, I have a whole batch of safe-n-legal abortion deaths I'd previously not known about. Evidently neither had the state of Illinois. And if they weren't reported at the state level, I'd lay even money the CDC didn't have a clue either.



Here's the Chicago Tribune article Josh talks about:

"State abortion record full of gaps," by Megan Twohey, June 16, 2011

I'll not go into details about the overall FUBAR status of the reporting, with multiple abortion facilities lurking in the depths. I'll just look at the deaths that Ms. Twohey uncovered and we'll see which ones I missed:

• Maurice Stevenson's wife, who died in 2002 from an infection after an abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood
• A teenage girl who went into cardio-respiratory arrest and died immediately after an abortion performed in 2009 in a suburban northern Illinois clinic
• A patient who died in 2008 after an abortion at Planned Parenthood
• Family Planning Associates deaths in 1998, 1999, and 2000
• A 2009 death at Women's Aid Clinic of Lincolnwood

So that's one death in Illinois in each year: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2008, plus two in 2009.

Let's hit the Cemetery of Choice and see what I have:

In 1998, I have Tamika Dowdy and Venus Ortiz in New York, Lou Ann Herron in Arizona, Kendra McLeod in North Carolina, and Virginia Wolfe in Texas. I have nobody in Illinois. So I have no idea who it is that they killed at Albany Medical Surgical Center that year in Chicago.

In 1999, I have Shelby Moran in Illinois, but she died in a nursing home from lingering complications of an abortion at a hospital years earlier. She's not the one mentioned in the story. I have "Yvonne" in Louisiana. And I have Maria Leho at Albany in Chicago. So that's one.

In 2000, I have L'Echelle Head in Ohio, Kimberly Neil in California, Semika Shaw in Pennsylvania, Nicey Washington in New York, and yes, Maria Rodriguez at Albany in Chicago. that's two.

In 2002, I have Diana Lopez in California, "Adelle" in Virginia, Brenda Vise in Tennessee, and Stacy Zallie in New Jersey. So I had nothing on Maurice Stevenson's wife.

In 2008, I have nobody, so I don't have any idea who Planned Parenthood killed.

And in 2009, I have Ying Chen in California and Karnamaya Mongar in Pennsylvania. I have no idea who the two dead Illinois women were.

So out of seven deaths that one reporter found in a docket search, I had information about two of them, or 29%.

Like I said, the Fatality Fairy has really dropped the ball on this one. Time for me to do some research.