Monday, October 27, 2014

An Early Beneficiary of "Safe and Legal" in California

Sixteen-year-old Natalie F. Meyers was brought to San Vicente Hospital in Los Angeles by her mother for a safe and legal abortion on October 21, 1972. Milton Gotlib injected saline into Natalie's uterus on the 21st. The saline would cause an abortion by poisoning the fetus. The death of the fetus would then induce labor.

On October 22, Natalie expelled the dead baby but retained the placenta. She had trouble breathing and suffered abdominal pain, so San Vicente staff transferred Natalie to County-USC Medical Center just before midnight.

Natalie was in shock when she arrived at County-USC. She underwent a D&C there, but remained in shock from infection in her uterus. On October 26, a hysterectomy was performed to try to control the infection, to no avail. Natalie was pronounced dead at 9:35AM on October 27.

The autopsy found most of Natalie's internal organs swollen and hemorrhagic. Death was attributed to hyaline membrane disease brought on by the abortion.

Natalie is one of many women to die at one of Edward Allred's facilities. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:

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