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.