Pre-Roe, Post-Legalization. An Ohio Woman's Death in New York

"Tammy" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. She is one of the women whose death is described in "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972," published in Obstetrics and Gynecology on March 1974.

Tammy had traveled from Ohio to New York to undergo an abortion under New York's liberal abortion law. Her abortion was performed on September 25, 1971. She was 33 years old. After the abortion, Tammy developed an infection which finally ended her life on October 13, 1971.

This chart shows the number of abortion deaths per year from 1941 to 1980. Do you think that legalization had any impact on the odds that Tammy would have survived her abortion? Why? Answer in your comments.