Two Criminal and a Safe and Legal

On August 1, 1922, 27-year-old divorcee Carrie McDonald died at the county hospital in Denver, Colorado from the effects of an abortion. When she was admitted, Carrie insisted that she'd been suffering from ptomaine poisoning, but an inquest was ordered. Carrie's live-in love, a married man, left their home in a boarding house several weeks before Carrie's death and hadn't been seen since. Carrie's friend Sadie said that Carrie had spoken for weeks about arranging an abortion. After the abortion, perpetrated on July 7, she'd gone for a car ride with Carrie, who then told her that the baby had been born alive and that she'd heard it crying. Sadie got the impression that the baby had been killed shortly after birth. Mrs. Alma Dittman, age 52, was suspected to have something to do with Carrie's death, though Alma denied any knowledge of the fatal abortion. She had been implicated, along with Mrs. Ida Cathcart, by Carrie's friend Margaret. Dittman was located at Fort Morgan and brought back for questioning. Dittman said that she'd been called in to care for Carrie after a self-induced abortion. She denied any knowledge of what had happened to Carrie's baby. A search of her home had revealed surgical instruments.

Gertrude Pitkanen

On August 1, 1929, 23-year-old schoolteacher Violet Morse, of Anaconda, Montana, died from a botched abortion. Her death certificate was signed by Gertrude Pitkanen (pictured), who was listed as the attending doctor even though Pitkanen was actually a surgical nurse and a chiropractor. Pitkanen attributed Violet's death to myocarditis, a heart condition. Violet's father requested a coroner's inquest, which revealed that Violet had actually died of complications of an induced abortion. Pitkanen insisted that she had only been called to Violet's bedside after her death. With no way to verify that Pitkanen had performed the abortion, she was simple censured for failing to notify proper officials about the death, as well as for falsifying the death certificate.

Documents regarding the death of Ingrid Thomas, age 28, indicate that her uterus was perforated by Kanu Virani during a safe, legal abortion. Ingrid developed acute peritonitis, and died at Botsford General Hospital August 1, 1991, several days after the abortion. Other prolife activists in Michigan indicate that it was not Kanu Virani, but rather Roger Kusner, who perpetrated the fatal abortion.