The Atypical Anniversary is the One They Remember

Today is the anniversary of the most widely publicized abortion death in history. Geraldine "Gerri" Santoro, the woman in the infamous photo used by abortion advocates to illustrate the horror of illegal abortion, was left to die in a motel room by her adulterous lover, who had borrowed medical instruments and a book from a doctor in order to perpetrate the abortion himself. The photo showed Gerri, nude, face-down with her knees under her, on the floor of the motel room where she died. Ms. Magazine first published the photo in 1973, and abortion advocates continue to use the picture in posters. And in 1995, Boston filmmaker Jane Gillooly produced a film, "Leona's Sister Gerri," to rally people behind the cause of readily available abortion, on PBS, at taxpayer expense.If my arm wasn't broken I'd address the reasons their arguments ignore the real needs of women like Geri. Instead, I'll share a link that addresses one aspect of the issue: Abortion -- Solution for Abusive Husbands?

A more typical story happened in 1914. When 17-year-old Ester Reid missed a period, her mother, Julia, took the girl to two different people to determine if she was pregnant. Concluding that she was indeed pregnant, Julia bought some pills to try to induce an abortion. These didn't work, so she took Ester to Dr. J.L. Neuman, who demanded payment of $150 for an abortion. Julia dickered him down to $50, though he complained about it. He started the abortion at his practice, then completed it two days later at the family's home. His efforts clearly weren't even worth the $50, much less then $150 he'd wanted, since he managed to fatally injure Ester, who died on June 8, 1914. The secret abortion intended to keep Esther's father from kicking her out of the house removed her from the family permanently.

Fast-forward to a typical post-Roe death. The survivors of 32-year-old Joyce Ortenzio filed suit against Edward Allred, his Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA), the San Vicente Hospital FPA facility, and abortionist Ruben Marmet. Joyce went to San Vicente for laminaria insertion by Marmet on June 7, 1988. Later, Marmet performed asafe and legal abortion, but did not remove all of the fetal parts from Joyce's uterus. The next day, June 8, Joyce was found dead in her home. The cause of death was an overdose of the drug amitriptyline, infection from fetal parts that were not removed during the abortion and septic shock. Joyce left three children motherless. Other patients known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:

• Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
• Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
• Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
• Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
• Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
• Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
• Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
• Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
• Christina Mora, age 18, 1994
• Nakia Jorden, 1998
• Maria Leho, 1999
• Kimberly Neil, 2000
• Maria Rodriguez, age 22, 2000
• Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004

I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.