Three Prolifically Deadly Physicians

On April 13, 1909, Stella Kelly, age 28, died in Chicago from an abortion. A Dr. Louise Achtenberg, misidentified as a midwife in the source document, was held by the coroner's jury but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial. Achtenberg was also implicated in the abortion deaths of Dora Swan, Florence Wright, Violet McCormick and Madelyn Anderson.

On April 30, 1917, Mrs. Ruth Lemaire, age 24, died at West Side Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. In her deathbed statement she implicated Dr. Lillian Hobbs (pictured). However, the coroner's jury did not place blame on Hobbs, and the case came to naught. Hobbs was also convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.


On April 30, 1923, 29-year-old homemaker Emma Herod died in her home from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Emma J. Warren was arrested for the death. On July 15, Warren was indicted for felony murder in Emma Herod's death. She's also previously been arrested for the abortion death of Annie DeGroote.

The thriving, deadly abortion practices of these three doctors offer an object lesson in how we can't count on criminalization alone to control seedy abortionists. The public also must actually care more about whether women live or die than whether they can locate a willing abortionist. As the Kermit Gosnell fiasco showed us, we can not count on prochoice bureaucrats, politicians, or activists to look out for women's well being. It will always fall on prolifers to stay vigilant and keep abortionists in check.

Fairly Typical from Pre and Post Roe

Our first anniversary is the work of a Chicago midwife. On April 29, 1914, 37-year-old homemaker Mary Stepan died at Chicago's Rhodes Avenue Hospital from complications of an abortion perpetrated that day by midwife Anna Stanek. Stanek was indicted on May 15, but the case never went to trial.

Our second anniversary is the work of a member of the National Abortion Federation, supposedly the equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval or the UL tag, but for abortion. Twenty-year-old Gloria Aponte went to National Abortion Federation member Hanan Rotem in Stamford, Connecticut, for a safe and legal abortion on April 29, 1986. A few hours after the abortion, Gloria was declared dead from hemorrhage at a nearby hospital. Rotem claimed that Gloria had died from an amniotic fluid embolism. An investigation by health officials found that Rotem had failed to perform necessary blood tests, such as hematocrit and Rh factor, and had permitted a receptionist with no medical training to administer anesthesia. Rotem had no hospital privileges and no emergency patient transfer agreement in place. For his fatal treatment of Gloria, he was fined a total of $2,000.

One Criminal and Two Safe-n-Legal. All Equally Dead.

Mrs. Sophia Berghusen of Brooklyn died on April 28, 1880, under the care of the mother-and-daughter midwife team of Mrs. Mary Kaufmann and Miss Margaret Kaufmann. The coroner concluded that Sophia had died of abortion complications. Both the Kaufmann women were arrested and tried but acquitted, though the sources do not say what was lacking in the case against them.

Julia Rogers, age 20, underwent a safe and legal abortion committed by Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard at Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on April 21, 1973. She died on April 28 at Tabernacle Hospital due to pneumonia on top of peritonitis. A hole had been poked in her uterus, causing an infection that made the muscle tissue of her uterus start to rot inside her. Evelyn Dudley and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

"Daisy" was a 32-year-old systems analyst for a dense contractor, who had made an appointment to abort her second-trimester pregnancy at a California abortion clinic for April 30, 1990. For some reason, Daisy didn't wait for the appointment, but instead, on April 28, she allowed her boyfriend to insert a plastic tube into her uterus in a home-abortion attempt which quickly killed her.

Lingering Death, a Baby Tossed in the River, and Bleeding to Death in Front of Her Children

Dr. Charles P. Wood admitted that Elvira Woodward had come to his house in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 1 and remained there until her death on April 27, 1871. He said that she'd expelled a dead fetus on April 3, and that she suffered from puerperal fever. Elvira took ill, languishing and finally dying on April 27, at about 2:30 PM, at Wood's house. Dr. Wood was convicted of performing the fatal abortion on Elvira. It is unclear how the prosecutor or the jury identified him, from among all the doctors who had attended Elvira, as the guilty party. Still, Elvira's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Miss Emily LeBinney, "whose family is said to be wealthy and to move in fashionable circles," died the evening of April 7, 1896, in the New York practice of midwife Mary Schott. Emily's baby was born alive during the abortion, and Arthur Robbins, whose relationship to the other parties is not given, threw the living child into the river.


On April 27, 1990, 28-year-old divorcee Sandra Milton underwent an abortion, performed by Dr. Carl Armstrong at Toledo Medical Services in Ohio. Sandra's abortion was performed at 10 a.m., and she was discharged shortly thereafter for the 90-minute drive home to Sandusky. The babysitter stayed with Sandra and her three children for three hours as the young mother slipped in and out of consciousness and suffered pain and abdominal swelling. Twice the alarmed babysitter called the clinic, but was told that the symptoms were normal. The third time the babysitter called the clinic, she got no response at all, and summoned an ambulance. Sandra was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital at 6:01 p.m..

Mystery Perps and a Doctor

Four of today's anniversaries involve somewhat mysterious perpetrators.

On April 26, 1908, 32-year-old Cora Johnson died in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion.
Mrs. Dietrich, whose profession was only given as "abortion provider", was arrested, but acquitted for reasons not given in the source document.

On April 26, 1920, 26-year-old Katherine Casper died in her Chicago home from an abortion. Rose Preib, whose profession is listed only as "abortion provider," was arrested and charged in the death. She was acquitted on February 29, 1924.

Exactly one year later, 25-year-old cashier Dorothy Freedland died at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago after an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.

On April 26, 1926 abortion death of Fern Strecker, age 26, who died at West Suburban Hospital in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated that day by Elizabeth Schade. Schade, whose profession I've been unable to determine, and who was already responsible for the 1917 death of Helen Skoza, ran an illegal abortion business.

More typically for criminal abortions, 18-year-old Florence Lindquist died at the hands of a doctor, Arthur Schulz, at his home. She died on April 26, 1914.




For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

Seduction and Quackery

On April 25, 1899, Sarah Messinger died in St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed by Marie Kampfer. Sarah died at the crime scene on the day the abortion was performed. Kampfer, whose profession is not listed, was held for $5,000 bond by Coroner's Jury.

In January of 1902, Abraham Conheim promised marriage to 19-year-old Harriet Larocque. With the promise of marriage, Harriet became sexually involved with Conheim. In April of 1902, Harriet discovered that she was pregnant. Conheim reneged on his promise of marriage, and instead arranged a criminal abortion for her. Harriet took ill after the abortion, dying on April 25.

April 25, 1932 saw yet another in a string of criminal abortion deaths in the Oklahoma City area: 19-year-old Nancy Jo Lee, whose abortionist, Dr. Richard E. Thacker (pictured), fled the state and had to be extradited to stand trial. Thacker and and Dr. J.W. Eisiminger were also linked to the deaths of Ruth Hall, Robbie Lou Thompson, Nancy Lee, Isobel F. Ferguson, Virginia Wyckoff, and Lennis May Roach.

Twenty-two-year-old Nichole Williams was the third patient known to have died of safe and legal abortion complications under the dubious care of Dr. Robert Crist. The others were Latachie Veal and Diane Boyd. Nichole, a mother of three, lived with her boyfriend. She died at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri at 3:12 p.m. on Friday, April 25, 1997. She had started experiencing breathing problems during the abortion and was transferred by ambulance, then in full cardiac arrest, to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Reproductive Health Services, a National Abortion Federation member facility, is operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. Crist serves as medical director.

Mostly the Work of Doctors, 1893 - 1937

An article on the death of 19-year-old Emma Hub underscores the racism of the time. It begins, "Uncle Billy Nickens, a well-known colored character of Hannibal, was arrested there yesterday charged with causing the death of Emmy Hub by a criminal operation." Emma's father, Jacob, had expelled his daughter from the house due to "her wild habits", so she had moved in with a painter named Mathew Seoville. Around April 15 of 1893, Emma took ill, and was tended by a Dr. Ebbits. Emma said that she had gone to Nickens' house, where he had used instruments on her to cause an abortion. She said that a girl from Illinois was also there for an abortion. Mathew had pressed Emma to write up a declaration. The fatal abortion was reportedly Emma's second; Nickens had been repeatedly brought up on abortion charges without a successful conviction.

On April 24, 1920, Emma Shanahan died at Chicago's St. Anthony Hospital (pictured) from an abortion perpetrated by a person who was not identified.

April 24, 1932 saw two of a string of criminal abortion deaths in the Oklahoma City area: 25-year-old Lennis May Roach and 21-year-old Virginia Wyckoff. These young women were victims of two doctors, Richard E. Thacker (pictured) and J.W. Eisiminger. Other deaths linked to these men included Ruth Hall, Robbie Lou Thompson, Nancy Lee, Isobel F. Ferguson, and Lennis May Roach.

On April 24, 1937, 21-year-old Merl Williams of Watonga, Oklahoma, died of peritonitis. A midwife, Mrs. Cordelia Moore, was charged with abortion murder. An investigation found evidence that Moore had perpetrated hundreds of abortions.



Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion.

The Nefarious Work of Two Repeat Offenders

On April 23, 1920, 30-year-old homemaker Violet McCormick died at the practice of an abortionist named Achtenberg, leaving behind three children ages 12, 9, and 6. From information about other Chicago area abortion deaths, we can gather that the abortionist in question was Dr. Louise Achtenberg, who had already been implicated in the abortion deaths of Dora Swan in 1907 and Florence Wright in 1909. After Violet's death, Achtenberg was held by the coroner and tried, but acquitted, freeing her to cause the 1924 death of Madelyn Anderson.

Dr. Richard E. Thacker (pictured) was prosecuted for the April 23, 1932 abortion death of 21-year-old telegraph operator Robbie Lou Thompson in Oklahoma City. Robbie Lou died of sepsis.  Thacker fled the state, leading to a manhunt that finally located him in Springdale, Arkansas. Thacker, a former Army doctor, had a short but deadly abortion career, resulting in the deaths of Robbie Lou and of  Ruth Hall,  Lennis May Roach and Nancy Joe Seay Lee.

Two Early 20th Century Chicago Deaths

On April 22, 1920, 28-year-old homemaker Sophie Krawczyk died in her Chicago home from an abortion perpetrated on February 27 by Mary Simka, whose profession is listed only as "abortion provider,"  though the U.S. Census lists her as a midwife.

 On April 22, 1923, 30-year-old Daisy Singerland died at Chicago's Robert Burns Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed earlier that day. On June 1, Dr. J.W. Lipscomb was indicted for felony murder in Daisy's death.

Three Chicago Deaths: 1912, 1933, 1987

On April 20, 1912, 19-year-old Ruth Fox died at a Chicago residence from an abortion performed there that day by Frank J. Schwartz, whose profession is not given. He was arrested and held by the Coroner on may 2, and indicted by a Grand Jury on November 25, but the case never went to trial.

In February of 1933, a 22-year-old unmarried store clerk discovered that she was pregnant. I've been unable to determine her name, so I'll call her "Nina" Roe. Nina's boyfriend got her some pills supposed to cause an abortion, but they didn't work. On April 8, Nina went to a nursing home operated by a nurse to ask about an abortion. The nurse informed the woman and her lover that Dr. E. T. Martin would perform an abortion. Martin quoted a total fee, including a stay at the nursing home until Saturday night, of $75. On Friday the 14th, Dr. Martin performed a curettage abortion at the nursing home. The nurse claimed that she had no idea what Dr. Martin was planning to do, and that she'd never cooperate with an abortion without a consultation with another doctor that the abortion was necessary to save Nina's life. After the D&C, Nina became alarmingly ill. Martin summoned a Dr. Templeton, who cared for Nina at the nursing home until April 19, when he transferred Nina to Virginia Mason hospital. She died the following morning. said that Nina been bleeding from an abortion when she'd come to him, and that he'd recommended hospitalization, but that Nina wanted to avoid the possible publicity surrounding a hospitalization, so he'd sent her to the nursing home instead. Martin was convicted of manslaughter in Nina's death, but the nurse was acquitted.

Dusan Zivkovic (pictured) and/or V. Perez had performed a safe and legal abortion on 35-year-old Brenda Benton at the infamous Biogenetics abortion mill in Chicago on March 13, 1987. She was placed under general anesthesia for the abortion. After she was discharged, Brenda developed fever, chills, and back pain. Brenda returned to Biogenetics to report these symptoms on March 27, and Zivkovic examined Brenda and performed a D&C before transferring her to Martha Washington Hospital. There, Zivkovic consulted with other doctors and they transferred Brenda to Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's hospital on April 6. She died there on April 20. Her death was due to infection and septicemia. Zivkovic himself lived to a ripe old age, dying in 2011 at the age of 77.

Four Tragic Anniversaries

Josephine "Josie" LeClear, age 24, died Wednesday, April 29, 1874. Josie had been living near St. John's School, a boys' school, in Manlius Village for about two weeks, working in the culinary department. On Saturday, April 15, she had gone to Norwich but "was sent back this morning in a coffin and box from there, and accompanying the box was a medical certificate, saying that she died of no contagious disease." Mrs. Copeland, the school matron, went to Norwich and reported "the situation of the corpse and other things surrounding it" were very suspicious. The coroners of the respective counties worked together to investigate Joesphine's death, which was clearly due to an abortion. Eventually both the baby's father and the doctor who perpetrated the abortion were identified. The doctor was not named in the news coverage, but was identified as "a resident practitioner of Hamilton, Madison County. His reputation is none the best, and he has boasted that he could do these things up very neatly."

Hughretta "Etta" Binkley was an unmarried woman about 34 years old. She worked as a stenographer and typist at Patee Bicycle Company in Peoria. At lunchtime on April 1, 1898, she went to the residence/office of Dr.Belle Howard, aka Belle Shotwell, about four blocks from the boarding house. After work the following day, at about 6:30 PM, she returned to Dr. Howard's house and was sent to a room on the second floor. Etta had a bag packed with a nightgown, robe, fountain syringe, and a bottle containing about two ounces of ergot. She took ill at Howard's home, and remained there, attended by the doctor and nurse, until the evening of Saturday, April 9. At that time, Dr. Howard drove Etta in her buggy back to the boarding house where she lived, and left her alone on the porch. Her landlord found her there in "a very helpless and distressed condition." The following morning, at about 9:00, Etta went to the nearby Cottage Hospital. Staff physician Otho B. Will examined her and performed surgery to remove decaying and fetid retained portions of placenta. Etta remained hospitalized under Dr. Will's care until April 19, when she died of septicemia. Immediately after Etta's death, Dr. Howard fled the state and had to be captured and returned for face trial. Dr. Howard was convicted of manslaughter in Etta's death.

On April 17, 1940, Mrs. Josephine Williams and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Adele H. Sassen, were sentenced to prison for an illegal abortion resulting in the death of a Long Beach woman. The abortion had been performed on April 16, 1939, and the woman died three days later.

Mary Paredez, an immigrant, was 26 years old when she underwent an abortion at San Jose Hospital on April 19, 1977. During the procedure, Mary's uterus was perforated. She began to hemorrhage. Less than seven hours later, she was dead. The autopsy found 2500 cc of blood in Mary's abdomen.

Using Yahoo! Answers to Fight Abortion

The Lost Generation has a great post on how to speak for life at Yahoo! Answers.

I would add these recommendations:

Do have a generic response for common questions like:

• How are abortions done?
• When is abortion legal?
• Where does the Bible say abortion is wrong?

Also have links on hand to include.

For those struggling with their mother's abortion:

• Siblings of Aborted Children
• Healing Siblings of Aborted Babies

Help finding a pro-life doctor:

• The Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Physicians for Life

Negative prenatal diagnosis:

• Be Not Afraid
• Carry to Term with a Negative Prenatal Diagnosis
• Perinatal Hospice
• How to Support a Friend With a Poor Prenatal Diagnosis
• Trisomy 13 Prenatal Support
• Trisomy 18 Journal
• Waiting With Love

Maternal health problems:

• Motherisk
• Pregnant With Cancer
• Beyond Morning Sickness (Hyperemesis Gravidarum)

Support for all pregnant mothers:

• Having Your Baby When Others Say No!
• The Nurturing Network
• Option Line

How abortions are performed:

• Partial Birth Abortion Diagrams
• Suction Curettage
• D&E (Second trimester)

Legal status of abortion:

• World Abortion Laws

Post-abortion help:

• Silent No More Awareness

Abortion Statistics:

• Abortion In Your State
• World Abortion Rates

From the horse's mouth:

• Abstracts Originally Presented at the National Abortion Federation

I'll add more links as I stumble across them and as people suggest them.

Two Criminal, Two Legal, All Equally Dead

John O. Edmonson was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree after an abortion he arranged resulted in the April 18, 1893 death of his paramour, 20-year-old Ada Hawk. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Edmonson, a widower, had at first tried to cajole two different men into marrying Ada, but she was predictably resentful rather than grateful. Edmonson and Ada tried using a rubber catheter to cause an abortion, to no effect. Edmonson then took Ada to Springfield, where a doctor and "an old woman" agreed to perform an abortion for $50, which evidently was performed by giving sort of concoction to Ada which achieved nothing other than making her ill. Edmonson admonished her parents not to seek care for Ada from Dr. Hardin, the family physician, instead arranging for a Dr. Perry to care for her. Edmonson coached Ada on how to hide the abortion from her mother. Some two or three weeks passed during which Ada kept her secret, while she continued to take some greenish medicine Edmonson had provided. Ada bled heavily and passed a clot, which led her mother to conclude that her daughter had been pregnant and had aborted. Finally, realizing that she was dying, Ada confessed the abortion to her mother, and lay blame on Edmonson for bringing about her "ruin" and for failing in his promise to care for her. After the girl's death, Edmonson asked a Mr. Brown to help him dig a grave, telling Brown that "he wanted her buried quick" and that "the family wanted a shallow grave." The coroner had Ada's body exhumed, but it was too decomposed for him to be able to perform a satisfactory autopsy.

On April 18, 1908, 36-year-old homemaker Sophia E. Turner died in Dr. Jessie E. Robertson's Chicago office from complications of an abortion performed April 18. Robertson was acquitted for reasons not given in the source document.

"Sandra" was 18 years old when she underwent a first-trimester abortion procedure in New York, under the state's liberal abortion law. Three days later, on April 18, 1971, Sandra killed herself. Before her death, she had expressed guilt about having "killed her baby." Tragically, nobody had contacted Sandra to give her the results of the pathology report on what had been removed from her uterus. There had been no embryo. Sandra had not actually been pregnant.

Barbara Lerner, age 30, of Dade County, Florida, was found dead from blood poisoning early in the morning of April 18, 1981. The CDC investigated Barbara's death and designated it as due to legal abortion.

1998: Frantic, Bleeding Woman Reassured and Abandoned by Doc

Those insist that legalization of abortion is necessary to keep our daughters safe might want to speak to Lou Ann Herron's father, Mike Gibb, who silently wept in the courtroom as he listened to witnesses describe how his daughter died on April 17, 1998 from a safe-n-legal abortion at the now defunct A-Z Women's Center.

The Pregnancy

Medical assistant Sylvia Aragon wept on the witness stand as she said that Lou Ann's pregnancy was "too far along" for an abortion.

If the abortion was indeed being done after 24 weeks, Arizona law requires that two physicians be present. Dr. John Biskind (pictured) was the only physician attending Lou Ann's abortion. Arizona law also limits abortions after 24 weeks to those that an abortionist can try to justify on the grounds that it was necessary to preserve the health and safety of the mother -- a nonsensical concept, since after 24 weeks a conscientious physician faced with a gravely ill patient will perform an emergency c-section in a hospital operating room; he will not perform a risky late abortion in a freestanding clinic.

There were no health concerns in Lou Ann's case anyway, the prosecution noted. She sought the abortion because she already had two children and was separated from her husband.

The Abortion

Prosecutors said that Biskind had ordered a total of seven ultrasounds performed, with estimates ranging from 23 weeks 3 days to 26 weeks. However, only the ultrasound that showed the pregnancy as 23 weeks 3 days was forwarded to the medical examiner; the others were lost or destroyed by the facility.

The abortion was performed at 1:30 p.m. Biskind, his lawyer said, noted a small amount of blood on the sheets when he checked on Lou Ann after the abortion, but that he was not concerned because bleeding is normal after an abortion.

The Aftermath

Two medical assistants testified that Lou Ann was very frightened about her condition as she lay in recovery. She begged, they said, to know what was wrong with her. She cried out in pain as she lay in a puddle of blood for three hours. Biskind fixed her IV (complaining that there was no qualified nurse on staff to do this), reassured her, and left the building at around 3:45 p.m.

Clinic administrator Carole Stuart-Schadoff had a staffer page Biskind 25 minutes later when Lou Ann's condition worsened. Biskind did not return to the clinic, but told staff to call 911.
Prosecutors estimate that by the time paramedics were summoned, Lou Ann had lost 2 to 3 liters of blood.

When the rescue crew arrived, Phoenix fire captain Brian Tobin Tobin testified, Lou Ann was wearing an oxygen mask, but had not been intubated. There was also no IV in place. "I very quickly felt that there wasn't a lot of competent medical care going on at the time," he said.
Nobody at the clinic seemed aware of how grave her condition was, he said, and nobody seemed to be helping her in any way. Staff told Tobin that Lou Ann's vitals were pulse 100, blood pressure 90/50. "It was very difficult for me to believe that they could get the vital signs of a woman who, even as we walked in the door, looked really dead," he said.

The Trial

A former Maricopa County medical examiner testified that the tear in LouAnne's uterus was caused by medical instruments, and not by a fetal body part as the defense suggested. However, even had the injury been caused by a fetal body part, this is an expected complication and would not have excused Biskind from his duty to notice and treat the injury.

Emergency room physician John Gallagher testified that, based on his assessment of Lou Ann's condition, she could have been saved had she been brought into surgery promptly.

Gallagher noted that during her last hours in the recovery room, Lou Ann became combative, anxious and frightened, and that she reported her legs were going numb. These, he noted, are all clear signs of severe blood loss. Instead of recognizing the danger she was in, Gallagher noted, Biskind instead tried to calm Lou Ann and reassure her that she would be "just fine."

Dr. Sidney Wecsler, an abortion expert testifying for the prosecution, said that the letter Biskind wrote to the medical board describing Lou Ann's death misrepresented both her condition and his treatment of her. The letter, dated June 1, 1998, said that Boskind checked on Lou Ann at 1:25 p.m., and that "pulse and blood pressure were satisfactory." The medical records, however, show that Lou Ann's blood pressue was low at that time, a symptom of severe blood loss. Biskind also said in the letter that Lou Ann was alert and talking when he left the clinic at 4:05, which Wecsler said would have been impossible for the moribund patient who was certainly dead by the time paramedics arrived twenty minutes later.

Wechsler said that Biskind surely knew as early as 3:15 p.m. that Lou Ann was not alert, because he ordered a drug to arouse her, which did not work. Biskind's letter makes no mention of administering this drug.

A doctor who specializes in obstetric ultrasounds testified that the quality of the scan used to justify Lou Ann's abortion was so poor that it appeared the machine was defective and improperly used.

Biskind's co-defendant, Carole Stuart-Schanoff, had a defense based on the idea that as administrator of the facility, she had no medical training, took no role in patients' medical care, and therefore was not responsible for what happened in the clinic she was running. Prosecutors point out that Stuart-Schadoff scheduled the abortion, and that she scheduled it despite knowing that there would be no registered nurse attending the recovery room that day. The prosection also noted that Stuart-Schadoff delayed calling 911, choosing to call Biskind first.

Lois Montagno, an RN from the now closed A-Z Women's Center, testified that she told Stuart-Schadoff a week in advance that she would not be able to work past noon on August 17, 1998, the day Stuart-Schadoff scheduled Lou Ann Herron for her fatal abortion.

Upon retiring to deliberate at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the jury of seven women and one man immediately agreed that the defendants were guilty. It was simply a matter of deciding which charges they were guilty of: the manslaughter charge, or the lesser charge of negligent homicide. It took them 4 1/2 hours to conclude that Biskind was guilty of manslaughter, Stuart-Schadoff of negligent homicide.

Lou Ann's family, which occupied two rows of the courtroom during the trial, wept as the verdicts were read. They met with members of the jury afterward.

Jury foreman Russell Craig, 56, spoke for the jury in the aftermath of the abortion death trial. He reported that he and other jurors were haunted by vivid dreams. He was particularly disturbed by the autopsy photos.

According to Craig, Biskind was his own worst enemy. "At one point when the prosecutor had finished his closing arguments," Craig told a reporter, "he applauded. It certainly didn't make much of an impression."

Only after the trial was over did members of the jury learn of Biskind's history of misconduct, including the previous death of another abortion patient. Craig said that this information "makes me feel better about my decision."

After the verdict, County Attorney Romley called for tougher laws addressing the way the Board of Medical Examiners handles doctors with problems.

The Owner

A-Z owner Moshe Hachamovitch admitted that the clinic did not have a procedures manual, but said that Biskind was "excellent at doing second-trimester abortions." Hachamovitch indicated that he himself is an expert on late abortions, having performed "hundreds of thousands of them" during his 41 years of practice, going back to pre-Roe days in New York. However, Hachamovitch's license had been suspended in New York for nine months on the grounds of gross negligence, gross incompetence, and innacurate patient records. His license was again suspended in New York for practicing fraugulently and failing to maintain adequate records.

Hachamovitch himself performed the fatal abortions on Tanya Williamson, Luz Rodriguez, and Christina Goesswein. Jammie Garcia died after a safe and legal abortion at Hachamovitch's Texas facility.

Three Equally Dead

On April 16, 1917, 27-year-old homemaker Antonia Gennaro, an Italian immigrant, died at her Chicago home from an abortion perpetrated that day by midwife Minnie Miller. Miller was held by the Coroner that day, and indicted on April 17, but the case never went to trial.

On April 16, 1920, 24-year-old Rose Lieberman died at Chicago's Grant Hospital from a criminal abortion. Dr. Herman J. Webber was arrested, along with Walter Biesse, but they were released. Webber was indicted by a Grand Jury in June, and released on $10,000 bond, but the case never went to trial.

"Julie" was only 14 years old when she underwent an abortion in New York, under their liberalized abortion law, on March 26, 1972. Julie had retained fetal tissue, which doctors tried to remove with additional procedures. During one of these attempts to complete the abortion, Julie's uterus and bowel were perforated. Julie underwent a partial resection of her bowel and drainage of an abscess. But despite these procedures, she developed septicemia and peritonitis, dying on April 16.

A Criminal Butcher and Legal Butchery

On April 15, 1932, Ruth Hall became one in a string of dead women blamed on Oklahoma City abortionist Dr. Richard E. Thacker (pictured). During the trial, and over Thacker's understandable, albeit unsustainable, objections, the court permitted a number of witnesses to testify that after Ruth's visit to his practice, Thacker had performed fatal abortions on Robbie Lou Thompson, Lennis May Roach, and Nancy Joe Seay Lee. The witnesses went into detail about the events, up to and including the death of each of them. It's all a sordid story, and you can click on Ruth's name to learn more.

Life Dynamics lists 16-year-old Maureen Espinoza on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legal abortions. Citing an article in the San Antonio Express-News dated April 24, 1997, LDI notes that Maureen's abortion was performed at a doctor's office in San Antonio on March 28, 1997. The abortionist punctured Maureen's uterus, but took no note of the complication. Maureen was admitted through the emergency room at NE Baptist Hospital on April 3. She underwent two surgeries to try to save her life, but died on April 15, 1997.

A Day by Day Prayer Response to PP's 40 Days of Prayer

Thanks to Kate Cann, who posted the link to the entire sickening thing at the RealChoice Facebook group.

Here is it -- but get some soul bleach -- the Planned Parenthood / Humbolt County Clergy for Choice "40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere."

I'm not going to post their prayers again, but ill instead provide 40 prayers to take what they are perverting and place it on a sound spiritual footing that truly recognizes God as the Author of Life, and all of us as precious, made in His image and likeness.

Day 1: Today we pray for women who are dismayed and distraught at the news that they are pregnant. May they be guided by love and grace. May the people in their lives provide them with the care they need to bring their troubled lives into harmony with the plans You have for their lives. May they find joy in the children whose impending births are now filling them with doubts and fears.

Day 2: Today we pray for compassionate religious voices to reach out to post-abortive women, abortion-vulnerable women, and those who are in those women's lives. May the post-abortive women find forgiveness and grace, may the abortion-vulnerable women find joy in their new children, and may everybody who comes into contact with any of these women reach out to them in grace and love guided by Your Holy Spirit.

Day 3: Today we pray for our daughters and granddaughters, that they might be kept safe from the spirits of this age that seek to demean them, degrade them, and reduce them to the status of sex objects. May they recognize themselves as precious, made in Your image and likeness. May they trust in You for guidance in all their choices.

Day 4: Today we pray for doctors and others that are participating in abortion. May their eyes be opened to the harm that they are doing. May they, like Abby Johnson, Carol Everett, Anthony Levatino, and so many other former abortion workers, come to know Your love and grace and forgiveness. May they turn their talents and passion to providing life-affirming care to vulnerable women and families.

Day 5: Today we pray for medical students who are thinking of practicing abortion. May they have their minds and hearts opened up to the harm abortion does, and may they instead devote their skills and passion to healing and hope.

Day 6: Today we ask for blessings on the women about to walk past the prolife presence outside abortion clinics. May each prolifer be guided by the Holy Spirit in each word and gesture. May the women reach out in trust and be reached by Your sustaining love.

Day 7: Today we pray for the millions of American women who have already experienced the tragedy of child loss through abortion. May those who already recognize the wrong in what they did reach out to You and find grace and forgiveness. May those currently blinded to the evil have their eyes opened, in a way that leads them to grace and forgiveness, not to despair and hatred.

Day 8: Today we pray for elected officials, that they may use the positions of power and influence in which You have placed them to protect the vulnerable among us, including abortion-vulnerable woman and their families.

Day 9: Today we pray for women who are afraid of the men they are with. May they find the confidence to turn away from abuse. May they recognize their own worth, and the worth of their children, as precious in Your sight, made in Your image and likeness. Guide the people in their lives to help them to safely escape abuse and find the relationships that foster love.

Day 10: Today we pray for women who were joyfully expecting a child but have learned that they or their unborn children face health challenges. May they feel Your very real presence. May they find hope and joy even in the darkest of circumstances.

Day 11: Today we pray for an awareness of the power of human sexuality, and a humble spirit toward that power, granted to us by Your wisdom and grace. May all of us exercise that gift in ways that glorify You and recognize the inherent dignity and worth of ourselves and those we are attracted to.

Day 12: Today we pray that women know the power of Jesus Christ, that they may see their actions and lives in the light of His redemption.

Day 13: Today we pray for the men in our lives, that they may offer loving kindness and wise counsel under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Day 14: Today we pray for Christians everywhere to allow the love of Jesus Christ to shine through them in their encounters with others, particularly abortion-vulnerable women and those currently trapped in the world of abortion.

Day 15: Today we pray for parents whose teen daughters are pregnant. May your Holy Spirit guide them as they walk their daughters through the challenges ahead.

Day 16: Today we pray for the counselors in abortion clinics, that they might awaken to the pain around them, and the reality that killing unborn children only brings its own pain. May their desire to help troubled women be guided by the Holy Spirit into life-affirming work.

Day 17: Today we pray for the financial needs of abortion-vulnerable women. May the men in their lives step into their roles as providers. May those women who are not in secure relationships find people to nurture and support them as they strive to be loving mothers to their children. May these women see Your sustaining hand as their every need is met.

Day 18: Today we pray for the staff at abortion clinics around the nation. May their eyes and hearts be opened, and may they turn away from the works of evil, but instead expose them for what they are.

Day 19: Today we pray for all pregnant women. May they be surrounded by loving voices guided by the Holy Spirit, that they may feel your sustaining care.

Day 20: Today we pray for families who grieve the loss of mothers, sisters, daughters, friends and other loved ones to abortion. May they feel Your sustaining presence, and may their turn their grief and pain to holy ends.

Day 21: Today we pray for women in developing nations, that they may come to knowledge of Your sustaining love. May their material needs be met, and may the leaders of their nations be guided by Your hand, that evil be addressed and the people may live in peace and prosperity.

Day 22: Today we pray for an end to the violence surrounding abortion. We pray that as we fight to end the violence against the unborn, our hands and voices may be guided also to fight the violence perpetrated by abortion workers against their patients, each other, their families, and the prolifers standing vigil outside these places of death.

Day 23: Today we give thanks for the strong women in our lives who have given us examples of living in Your ways. May their example encourage others to face life bravely and with trust in Your love.

Day 24: Today we pray for an end to hateful language. May all of us guard out tongues, and speak out in love guided by the Holy Spirit.

Day 25: Today we pray for women whose spirits have been crushed by false religion. May they find freedom and joy in Your light and love through the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Your precious Son, Jesus Christ.

Day 26: Today we give thanks for the intelligence, talent, wit, and wisdom of the women and girls in our lives. May we recognize these blessings as gifts from Your loving hand, and may all of us use these blessings in ways that honor You.

Day 27: Today we give thanks for health care providers all around the nation and around the world that provide for the real physical needs of women and children, particularly abortion-vulnerable women and their unborn children. May all health care providers learn to seek Your wisdom as they care for their patients.

Day 28: Today we pray that abortion-vulnerable women see obstacles to abortion as signs to turn instead of loving and nurturing their unborn children. May any obstacle to abortion be accompanied by an opportunity to see Your loving provision.

Day 29: Today we pray that all women will know that they are created in Your image and likeness. May they live lives that recognize this inherent dignity and worth. May they not cheapen themselves by allowing themselves to be used and degraded by anybody, especially not the men in their lives.

Day 30: Today we pray for women to confess their sins to You and to their brothers and sisters in Christ, that they may know grace and forgiveness.

Day 31: Today we pray for discrimination against the weak and vulnerable to cease. May every man, woman, and child recognize the dignity and worth of each and every other human being. We pray especially for the unborn, those with disabilities or sickness, the elderly, and the poor. May we reach out with Your loving hands toward our more vulnerable brothers and sisters.

Day 32: Today we pray for an awareness of the shame of sin, especially the sin of abortion. May we all awaken to an awareness of our own sinfulness, and may we all turn to Your Son Jesus for His love, cleansing, and forgiveness.

Day 33: Today we offer a prayer of remembrance for those who died while still in slavery to sin. May they have experienced a last-minute awareness of their helpless state, and have turned to You and been welcomed, repentant, into Your kingdom. May we as well be aware of our own slavery to sin and turn to Your son Jesus in our dying moments.

Day 34: Today we pray for abortion escorts and other front line activists, that they may see Your love for the women entering abortion facilities. May they recognize the inherent dignity and worth of those women and their unborn children. May they come to grips with the sin in their own lives, so that they no longer feel the need to help others to sin.

Day 35: Today we pray for girls everywhere, that they may be nurtured and given the opportunity to fully exercise the gifts and blessings that You have given them. May they be kept safe from the influence of those who would lead them to lives of degradation and sin.

Day 36: Today we pray for families, that they will embrace all of their children, not just the ones that they have planned, or that meet society's standards of health and beauty. May every child be seen as a blessing made in Your image and likeness.

Day 37: Today we pray for women to recognize that their dignity and worth, both as human beings and as citizens, is not incumbent on current fashionable ideas, but on the worth You bestow upon them. May they fully live out Your plans for their lives.

Day 38: Today we pray that Your love and power will surround all abortion facilities, that Satan will not find a foothold in the lives of those passing by, gathered outside, or about to walk in. May the scales fall from the eyes of those working inside or volunteering outside, that they might turn away from being agents of death and despair, and instead work toward embracing every human life as a gift from Your loving hand.

Day 39: Today we pray for a contagious love to overflow from our spirits, guided by Your Spirit.

Day 40: Today we give thanks and celebrate that Your power is made perfect in our weakness, and that we know that in the end, Your will will be done.

Planned Parenthood's 40 Days of Prayer 31 - 40

Thanks to Kate Cann, who posted the link to the entire sickening thing at the RealChoice Facebook group.

Here is it -- but get some soul bleach -- the Planned Parenthood / Humbolt County Clergy for Choice "40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere." Some of these prayers might seem innocent, unless you know the way the abortion lobby uses language. I already covered Day 1 - Day 10, 11 - 20 , and 21 - 30. Let's close out with Days 31 - 40.

Day 31: today we pray for all discrimination against women to cease.

A nice prayer, at face value. But remember that they include refusal to pay for (and if you're a medical professional, participate in) abortion to be "discrimination against women."

Day 32: Today we pray for an end to the stigma perpetrated against women who have had abortions.

They're really beating this one to death. This is I believe the fourth time they've prayed for people to learn to admire women for slaying their unborn children. Guess what? There will always be the knowledge that abortion is killing a child, that it is at best an act of fear, and at worst an act of unparalleled selfish evil. Who wants to live in a world where this is not considered worthy of stigma?
Day 33: Today we offer a prayer of remembrance for abortion providers who lost their lives because of their commitment to women.
Yes, some people were killed because they were abortion workers, but they were not targeted for their commitment to women. They were targeted for their commitment to killing unborn children. This prayer is an attempt to turn them into martyrs.

Day 34: Today we give thanks for abortion escorts who guide women safely through the hostile gauntlets of protesters.

This is partially a rerun of Day 6, when they painted prolifers as "hostile," only now they're adding the idea that escorts are noble.

I've seen escorts open car doors and pull weeping women into the clinic. I've seen escorts screaming in women's ears to keep them from hearing the prolifers. I've seen them actively block women who were reaching for the prolifers' pamphlets, and even snatch the pamphlets out of women's hands. Every weeping woman who is shoved through those doors is then celebrated with high-fives and cheering, as if the "prochoice" team just scored a touchdown.

Escorts are primarily a tool for ensuring that no desperate woman gets that 11th-hour reprieve. And that is not a noble thing worth giving thanks for -- unless you're an abortionist grateful that they make sure you never lose a sale.

Day 35: Today we pray for girls everywhere, that they may have every opportunity for education, sport, health, art, and vocation.

This is an innocuous prayer at first -- then you realize that the prayer also implies a prayer that they'll avail themselves of abortion if a pregnancy makes the goals of education, sport, health, art, or vocation more difficult to pursue.

Day 36: Today we pray for the families we've chosen. May they know the blessing of choice.

How about prayers for the family members you've chosen to kill? And what kind of sick person considers abortion (which they're euphamising as "choice") a blessing?

Day 37: Today we pray for women to claim their equality and demand their rights as citizens.

More code for wanting more women to embrace abortion.

Day 38: Today we pray for a cloud of gentleness to surround every abortion facility. May everyone feel calm and loving.

This would be easier to achieve if they weren't participating in human sacrifice inside those facilities. This is like a prayer for peace, calmness, and love at Buchenwald or Auschwitz. If you're in the business of killing, you're not inviting peace, calmness, or love.

Day 39: Today we pray for a contagious love to overflow from our spirits.

Again, painting the abortion participant as acting on love. Maybe some of them are. But let's face it, if was overflowing from their spirits, they'd stop participating in abortion. Maybe we need to pray fervently that contagious love will indeed overflow from their spirits, as it is now flowing from the spirits of Carol Everett, Anthony Levatino, and Abby Johnson.

Day 40: Today we give thanks and celebrate that abortion is still safe and legal.

First of all, giving thanks for and celebrating abortion is sickening. Second of all, we've seen that legal does not equal safe, and that they ignore this inconvenient fact. This is less a prayer than it is yet another PR move to promote the idea that legalizing abortion was a wonderful thing and that we need not worry any longer that women will suffer now that they're being entrusted to the enlightened modern abortionist.

Of course, the fact that the entire exercise is a lie is in the paragraph describing Humboldt County Clergy for Choice: "We are religious leaders who value all human life."

Sorry, but you can't reconcile valuing human life with prayers thanking God for abortion.

Planned Parenthood's 40 Days of Prayer 21-30

Thanks to Kate Cann, who posted the link to the entire sickening thing at the RealChoice Facebook group.

Here is it -- but get some soul bleach -- the Planned Parenthood / Humbolt County Clergy for Choice "40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere." Some of these prayers might seem innocent, unless you know the way the abortion lobby uses language. I already covered Day 1 - Day 10 and 11 - 20. Here come Days 21 - 30.

Day 21: Today we pray for women in developing nations, that they may know the power of self-determination. May they have access to employment, education, birth control, and abortion.

Of all the things they could pray for on behalf of women in developing nations, two of the four are birth control and abortion. How much do women really want birth control and abortion in parts of the world where up to ten percent of babies don't even survive for 30 days after birth?

Women in developing nations want safe childbirth, potable water, malaria control, and so on. They want to be safe from massacres and rape. They want the political and social stability that allows families to be secure. They want a lot of things. Only the rich, pampered women of the West would put abortion and birth control in the list of top four things.

Day 22: Today we pray for an end to all violence against abortion providers.

As if that's such a huge problem. There are a lot more crimes committed by abortionists than against them. But that's a whole nother blog post.

Day 23: Today we give thanks for the strong women in our lives who have given us examples of good decision-making.

We covered this on Day 3. Only choices that fit their ideal are "good choices." Women who embrace chastity, Christian marriage, Natural Family Planning, full-time motherhood, and nurture of children with disabilities are not giving examples of what PP considers "good decision-making."

Day 24: Today we pray for an end to the hateful language that diminishes the dignity of women.

How about an end to the hateful language used against Sarah Palin, Ann Romney, Karen Santorum, and Myah Walker? Or is hateful language just fine when used against them?

Consider also that they consider opposition to paying for other women's birth control and abortion to be "hate speech." 'Nuff said.

Day 25: Today we pray for women who have been made afraid of their own power by their religion. May they learn to reject fear and live bravely.

I'm not too sure what they mean by this, but given the lack of outcry among the mainstream Left about the oppression of women by radical Islam, I'd say that they're praying that women who profess Christianity learn to live like material secularists, particularly when it comes to sex, birth control, and abortion. Chaste women who reject artificial birth control and abortion don't rely on Planned Parenthood. So Day 25 is, in short, a prayer for more customers.

Day 26: Today we give thanks for the intelligence, talent, wit, and wisdom of all the women and girls in our lives.

But only if they apply these blessings to promoting abortion.

Day 27: Today we give thanks for abortion providers around the nation whose concern for women is the driving force in their lives.

First of all, if they mean what they're saying they're only giving thanks for the minority. A lot of abortionists are driven by money or elitism or prejudice against minorities and/or the disabled. You can't look at Steve Brigham or Alberto Hodari, or even Warren Hern, who while not a quack practices abortion because he considers human beings to be a cancer on the planet, and believe that abortionists are driven by concern for women.

Second of all, this is another PR move to paint abortionists as noble crusaders for women.

Third of all, notice the total lack of thanks for doctors who help women with high-risk pregnancies, or who provide cutting-edge care for unborn babies with health problems.

Day 28: Today we pray for the women who travel hundreds of miles to get an abortion. May their determination be rewarded with spiritual strength.

This is openly revolting. First of all, it's just a public relations ploy to expand the number of places where unborn children are killed. Second of all, is determination to have your child torn limb from limb really this admirable? A better prayer would be that they be given the spiritual strength to love, rather than kill, their children.

Day 29: Today we pray that all women will know that they are created in the image and likeness of God, good and holy, moral and wise.

Soul bleach! Pass me the soul bleach!

Let's start with whether they really think that all women are good and holy, moral and wise. Seriously. First of all, we know that they don't think Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, and Myah Walker are "good and holy, moral and wise." Here are a few more women that I think nobody would put on a list of good, holy, moral, or wise: Myra Hindley, Belle Gunness, Ilse Koch, Karla Homolka, and Elizabeth Bathory (pictured: the woman who killed virgins so she could stay young by bathing in their blood).

Okay, so we've established that they can't even believe their own words. They do not think that all women are good and holy, moral and wise. So then, what is the point of the prayer?

It's meant to assert that choosing to abort your baby is good and holy, moral and wise.

Yes, women are made in the image and likeness of God. So are their unborn children. Which is why abortion neither good nor holy nor moral nor wise, no matter what Planned Parenthood and its sycophants would say to the contrary.

Day 30: Today we pray for women to throw away their secrets and claim their histories with power and truth.

This is just a rerun of Day 12 and the attempt to convince everybody that if enough women are proud of their abortions, it will make abortion be a good thing.

Planned Parenthood's 40 Days of Prayer 11-20

Thanks to Kate Cann, who posted the link to the entire sickening thing at the RealChoice Facebook group.

Here is it -- but get some soul bleach -- the Planned Parenthood / Humbolt County Clergy for Choice "40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere." Some of these prayers might seem innocent, unless you know the way the abortion lobby uses language. I already covered Day 1 - Day 10. Here come days 11 - 20.

Day 11: Today we pray for better access to all forms of birth control.

Yeah, even though a birth control culture drives up the abortion rate. That's a whole nother blog post.

Day 12: Today we pray that women know the power of their own stories. May they find their voices and tell their truths.

Yeah, as long as they're abortion-supporting "truths." When's the last time you've heard of a prochoicer allowing a regretful woman to tell her story?

Day 13: Today we pray for the men in our lives, that they may offer their loving kindness and support for women's difficult decisions.

"Women's difficult decisions" always equals abortion. I can't remember if it was the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights or another "faith based" "pro-choice" group, but I read a brochure that was a supposedly Christian guide for those facing a decision about a difficult pregnancy. It had the usual New Age ideas, such as lighting scented candles and asking for guiding visions, yada yada yada. It closed with a litany for having made the difficult decision to have an abortion. There was no litany for having made the difficult decision to continue a pregnancy at a difficult time. The presumption is that if the choice is difficult, it's always going to be abortion.

This is, therefore, a prayer that men always uniformly embrace abortion.

Day 14: Today we pray for Christians everywhere to embrace the loving model of Jesus in the way he refused to shame women.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more," not, "Make sure you use protection and have a reliable abortionist in mind in case your continued adultery is complicated by a pregnancy!"

To pretend that Jesus found no shame in sinning is blasphemous.

Day 15: Today we pray for parents whose teen daughters are pregnant. May they help their daughters through this difficult time with kindness and openness.

An innocuous, even noble, prayer until you realize that "difficult time" means "time between announcing the pregnancy and being discharged from the abortion clinic." "Openness" means "willing to facilitate the abortion." Let's face it, they hate anybody who helps these girls choose life. No way are they praying for love and support for a girl choosing to care for the child or make an adoption plan.

This is a prayer prolifers can pray, but never in concert with the people putting out this prayer list.

Day 16: Today we pray for the counselors in abortion clinics that they may listen with their hearts and offer wise guidance.

If those counselors started listening with their hearts and offering wise guidance they'd stop working in abortion clinics. They'd all be at prolife pregnancy centers.

Day 17: Today we pray for increased financial support for low income women to access contraception, abortion, and childcare.

At least they threw a bone at childcare. But notice that there is no mention of low income women's real financial needs, or a recognition that many low income women want to be stay-at-home moms who nurture their own children? Most low-income women, in fact, would far rather be at home with their kids then cleaning motel rooms, stocking shelves, waiting on tables at greasy spoons, and sweating all day in a hospital laundry.

Day 18: Today we pray for all the staff at abortion clinics around the nation. May they be daily confirmed in the sacred care that they offer women.

Get the soul bleach! Sacred? It is here that you really get to the heart of the whole thing. They consider abortion sacred. And note that there is no mention of the sacred work done by anybody who helps pregnant women who want to carry to term. Do you need to know anything else?

Day 19: Today we pray for all pregnant women. May they be surrounded by loving voices.

This is another prayer, like the prayer for women who receive a devastating diagnosis during pregnancy, that we can all pray, but that prolifers should never pray in concert with abortion supporters, since they consider it "loving" -- not just loving but "sacred" -- to facilitate the killing of the unborn child.

Day 20: Today we pray for the families of yesteryear who still mourn the loss of their mothers, sisters, and aunts due to illegal abortion.

Note that conspicuously absent are the families of today who are mourning the loss of mothers, sisters, aunts, and daughters to legal abortions. Where is there any compassion for the grieving families of Alexandra Nunez, Ying Chen, Karnamaya Mongar (pictured), and Antonesha Ross? I guess only certain women's deaths are worthy of notice. After all, you're not going to raise any money or garner any votes for abortion by waving pictures of a Nepalese refugee who died horribly in a grimy Philadelphia abortion mill. They'll say, like Shrek, "Oh no no no no no! Dead broad off the table!"

Planned Parenthood's 40 Days of Prayer 1 - 10

Thanks to Kate Cann, who posted the link to the entire sickening thing at the RealChoice Facebook group.

Here is it -- but get some soul bleach -- the Planned Parenthood / Humbolt County Clergy for Choice "40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere." Some of these prayers might seem innocent, unless you know the way the abortion lobby uses language.

Day 1: Today we pray for women for whom pregnancy is not good news, that they know they have choices.

At first this might seem to be a prayer for women to know that they can get WIC and medical assistance, help enforcing child support, etc. You have to understand what the abortion lobby means by "choices" to understand how nasty this prayer is. "Choice" means abortion. This is a prayer of thanksgiving for abortion, and that women distressed by that positive pregnancy test will turn to Planned Parenthood or another abortion purveyor rather than to anybody who will help her to address the reasons she considers that positive pregnancy test to be "not good news."

Doubt that? Consider Planned Parenthood's unrelenting campaign to stamp out any organization that helps women with any choice other than abortion, resorting to a hoax when all other efforts don't pan out.

Day 2: Today we pray for compassionate religious voices to speak out for the dignity and autonomy of women.

This seems to be a prayer that would stand in solidarity with truly oppressed women who are forbidden to get an education, to drive a car, to go out in public without doing it under a tent and accompanied by approved chaperons. It's not. In the language of the abortion lobby, the only way women exercise "dignity and autonomy" is to climb on the abortion table. So this is in essence a prayer that clergy and other people who profess faith will encourage abortion at every opportunity.

Day 3: Today we pray for our daughters and granddaughters, that they will always know the power of making their own good decisions.

Again, innocuous and even noble on its face. Who could object to our daughters and granddaughters making good decisions? Don't we want our daughters and granddaughters to make wise choices about dating, education, family life, and career?

Well, just take a moment to look at the choices that are ridiculed by supporters of abortion:

• Sarah Palin's decision to continue her pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.
• Ann Romney's decision to forgo a high-status career and instead be a full-time mom to her five boys.
• Anybody's decision to embrace chastity, especially the decisions made by teen girls to wear "purity rings."
• The decisions of millions of Catholic and Evangelical women to use NFP rather than artificial contraception.

In short, any decision that does not follow their "enlightened" path is not, in their world, a "good decision." They are, in essence, praying that our daughters and granddaughters embrace early sexual experimentation, and then avail themselves of Planned Parenthood's services to deal with the inevitable STDs and pregnancy risks. They're praying that our daughters and granddaughters choose abortion in any challenging circumstance, including a prenatal diagnosis of a child that doesn't meet their standards. They're praying that our daughters and granddaughters overcome any maternal desire to stay home and nurture their children, and instead pursue work outside the home. This prayer is deplorable and is praying for the opposite of making good choices.

Day 4: Today we give thanks for the doctors who provide quality abortion care, and pray that they may be kept safe.

Notice the careful choice of the words "provide quality abortion care." This doesn't mean that they're not thanking God for Steve Lichtenberg, who sent a 13-year-old girl to an early grave with a massive overdose of Brevitol. This means that they're lumping even quacks like Lichtenberg into the category of "doctors who provide quality abortion care." It's a way of pretending that any "abortion care" is quality "abortion care." In other words, this is a way of thanking God for anybody who chooses to destroy unborn life.

The addition of the prayer "that they may be kept safe" is one it's hard to disagree with. But it's also a jab at prolifers, implying that they have to pray that abortionists will be kept safe from us. Note that there is no prayer that abortionists will run clean, safe facilities. That's being treated as a given.

Day 5: Today we pray for medical students who want to include abortion care in their practice. May they receive good training and good mentors.

I have to give them credit here for at least praying for "good training and good mentors" for the medical students who actually want to include abortion in their practices. They're not praying that all medical students embrace abortion. And I catch a hint of the admission on some level that they need good training and good mentors so that they don't become like Kermit Gosnell.

Day 6: Today we ask for blessings upon the women who pass through hostile protesters on the way into an abortion clinic. May they be shielded from physical and emotional harm from those who do not know them.

Note the presumption that the "protesters" are "hostile." There is no prayer that last minute help will be available for women who are being pressured or feeling trapped.

As for the prayer that the women walking into the abortion facilities "be shielded from physical and emotional harm from those who do not know them" -- that's the very prayer that the prolifers are praying themselves. That's the reason the prolifers are out there: to help shield the women from physical and emotional harm from those who do not know them, for whom they are nothing but political points and dollar signs.

Day 7: Today we pray for the 45 million American women who have and safe, legal abortions. May they stand tall and refuse shame.

This is not a prayer: it's political and social propaganda. They're trying to normalize abortion. It's the same ploy advertisers use when they point out how many people purchase their product. It's an urge to jump on the bandwagon, to choose abortion, to support abortion.

It also includes the presumption that legal abortion is safe. Why are they not praying for the women who have endured unsafe legal abortions? Why are they not praying that those who have suffered, who have ended up with hysterectomies or colostomies, who are not unable to have children, who are now at high risk with every wanted pregnancy? Are those women not also women? Do they not matter?

They're also praying that women embrace their abortions after the fact, no matter how they're feeling afterward.

Day 8: Today we pray for elected officials, that they may always support a woman's right to make her own medical decisions.

Another prayer that seems innocuous, unless you understand that the abortion lobby means "undergo abortions" when they say "make medical decisions." Lest you doubt this consider these little facts:

You never hear abortion advocates arguing for informed consent. Anything that might lead to a decision that isn't abortion is actively fought against, not embraced or supported.
You never hear abortion advocates arguing for easier access to tubal ligations, even though individual prochoice women often lament how difficult it is to get their tubes tied. They are told they're too young, that they don't have enough children yet, that they might regret it later. They run into roadblock after roadblock. There's even a page of advice about how to overcome the barriers. But where is the abortion lobby when it comes to standing up for those women who want to chose tubal ligation rather than abortion after abortion?

Day 9: Today we pray for women who are afraid of their lovers. May they find the confidence to turn away from abuse and take care of themselves.

Finally! It took them nine days to get to an actual pressing need!

This has been one of my pet peeves. I listened to a tape of a meeting of National Abortion Federation nurses trying to figure out how to help abused women. The focus was not, as this prayer is, on finding confidence, turning away from abuse, and taking care of themselves. The focus was on trying to get abusive men to at least use a condom when raping women who are recovering from abortions.

Yes, you read that right.

These nurses were upset about how many of their patients were in relationships where the man would not allow the woman to abstain from sex until she was healed. Not allowing a woman to abstain from sex is rape, and it's particularly deplorable when the woman is trying to abstain so that she does not contract a life-threatening infection.

These nurses were also upset about what walking petri dishes of STDs these men are, because they don't just force themselves on the woman they've gotten pregnant; they're out having unprotected sex with multiple other partners.

Not once in the entire session did anybody suggest helping these women to contact services that would help them to escape the nightmare of abuse. It was all, "Can we at least get the abusers to wear condoms for a couple of weeks?"

So I have to applaud the prayer for Day 9, and add to it a prayer that people working in abortion clinics will actually help the women to find confidence, turn away from abuse, and take care of themselves, rather than just scrape them out and return them to their abusers.

Day 10: Today we pray for women who were joyfully expecting a child, but have learned that the pregnancy is not sustainable.

We can all join in prayer for these women. However, I'd not pray this prayer side by side or in any way in concert with the people putting out this list. Why?

Consider the attacks endured by Myah Walker, who blogged her journey after a prenatal diagnoses of anencephaly:

Myah Walker and her "baby" -- The writer refers to Faith Walker as "a living vegetable," and puts the words "baby" and "daughter" in quotes when referring to her. She dismisses Myah's love for faith as being "more in denial as time passed on." She criticized Myah for "wanting it to 'live.'" Yes, this writer called Faith "it," and denied that she was even living. The writer notes that many have dubbed Faith "the zombaby." Commenters said things like "choosing to bring such a disabled baby to full term seems even selfish to me."

Urban Dictionary: Zombaby -- "Definition: A baby literally born without a brain. It twitches and spasms like a zombie. Example: Have you seen that article about Myah Walker and her zombaby?

The pinnacle of nastiness is at Encyclopedia Dramatica --

An innocent post on Something Awful about the love of a psycho for her brainless child brought out strange feelings of sympathy and disgust among Goons in regards to the story of poor Myah Walker, 23-year-old single mom of a special needs kid with anencephaly. Goons, being a compassionate lot, decided to dig a little deeper into this fabulous, tawdry soap opera of a fundie pro-life girl and her meatsack. ....

A normal person would have aborted that shit with quickness, but our girl Myah decided to use the Zombaby as a tool of pro-life propaganda, going on speaking tours, creating blogs, and asking for prayers, drugs, brains, strollers and whatever else she could grub to appease the world's tiniest zombie.

Try to tell me with a straight face that people who gather to thank God for abortion aren't also praying that any baby that doesn't live up to their standards gets aborted.

1930 and 1932: A Single Death and a Trail of Corpses

Mamie Ethel Crowell, age 20, died on April 14, 1930, in the office of Dr. Hans Paulsen, from an abortion performed on her that day. Two days later, Paulsen was booked for manslaughter by abortion. The father of the baby, Uriah Denniston, was booked as accessory. Paulson was held by the Coroner for murder by abortion. Denniston wasn't mentioned in the verdict. On September 1, the indictment was quashed. The source notes "Circumstances suggesting judicial corruption."

Just two years after Ethel's death in Chicago, two doctors were leaving a trail of carnage around Oklahoma City. One victim was 21-year-old Mrs. Isabelle F. Ferguson, sho died of suspected abortion complications on April 14, 1932. J. W. Eisiminger and Richard E. Thacker (pictured) were suspected in the case. The very next day, April 15, 1932, Ruth Hall died of suspected abortion complications. Once again, Elsiminger and Thacker were suspects. Eisiminger alone was the suspect in the abortion death of Virginia Lee Wyckoff, a 21-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma, who died April 24, 1932. Elsiminger was charged with murder in her death. That same day, Lennis May Roach died of suspected abortion complications. Both Elsiminger and Thacker were suspected in the case. The next day, April 25, 1932, another young woman died of abortion complications -- 17-year-old Nancy Joe Lee, a University of Oklahoma co-ed who was secretly married to a university football player. Thacker, a surgeon, was charged with the death. Thacker had also been charged with murder in the abortion death of Robbie Lou Thompson, age 21, the previous week. The total number of deaths attributed to Thacker and Elsiminger was eight. How these men managed to remain free so long to kill so many women is a matter well worth looking into.