September 30: The Deadly Liposuction Abortionist

 On September 30, 1904, Stanislawa Zagonski died in Chicago from an illegal abortion performed that day. Mrs. Alexander Wojtanowski, whose profession is not given, was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury on October 5.

No matter if Mrs. Wojtanowski was a doctor or not, she was probably far more professional than Dr. Joe Bills Reynolds, whose practice left 21-year-old Gaylene Golden dead on September 30, 1985. Reynold was a jack of all trades, doing a variety of elective surgeries, including abortions, in his filthy clinic. Reynolds' anesthetist, age 60, had originally been hired as a janitor, and an untrained orderly was acting as his nurse. The operating room was littered with dirty cups and papers.


Reynolds performed the abortion on Gaylene in his Oklahoma City office. Due to a cervical laceration, Gaylene developed an embolism -- both air and amniotic fluid in her bloodstream. This embolism killed her on the spot, leaving her son motherless. Reynolds went on to kill his wife, Sharon, in a botched fat-removal surgery in the clinic.

ADDENDUM: Reynolds' daughter, Shelly Reynolds, was charged with performing at least seven abortion without a license at her father's clinic after he was stripped of his own license.

September 29: Suspicions Surrounding Baby Farm Lead to Exhumation

 Four Early 20th Century Chicago Deaths

Rosalla Rockhill, age 19, died September 29, 1915 at Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago from an abortion. An unidentified midwife was blamed in Marie's death.

Twenty-one-year-old Anna Marie Dimford died the same day at Rhodes Avenue Hospital in Chicago.  Anna Marie's father was a farmer in Kewanee, Illinois, and her mother ran a boarding house. Anna, then 16 years old, was working in an iron mill to help support her five younger siblings. “The girl left the farm for Chicago thirteen months ago and for a long time her parents didn't know how she earned her livelihood. The last time they heard from her she wrote that she was employed as check girl in a restaurant, her mother said.” John Harris, a waiter, admitted to being the baby's father and to having paid $200 for the abortion. He gave the names and addresses of the doctors involved, both of whom fled. Dr. Harold M. Weinbert, who attended Anna in her final illness, said she named a Dr. Ness on the West Side as her abortionist. 

On September 29, 1917, 27-year-old Annie DeGroote, who worked as a salad maker, died in her Chicago home from a criminal abortion perpetrated by Dr. Emma J. Warren. Warren, as well as Annie's husband Herman, were arrested for her death. Warren was indicted on October 15, 1917, but the case never went to trial.

On September 29, 1923, 18-year-old Mollie Monilson, a native of Montreal, died in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. The person or persons responsible for her death were never identified or brought to justice, so we can't know if Mollie availed herself of one of the many physicians or midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time.

The Baby Farm, 1923

On September 29, 1923, 44-year-old Annie Allison, a London native living in Brooklyn, died at the office of chiropractor Henry Lee Mottard, who practiced under the name of Dr. Henry L. Green. Annie was a homemaker. Her husband, Herbert Allison, was a music professor. Annie was buried, but when suspicions were raised about her death her body was exhumed.

Mottard alleged that Annie had died after an accidental fall down an elevator shaft at the premises. However, Annie's death certificate, signed by another physician, attributed her death to chronic cardiac nephritis. Police, who were investigating Mottard for his suspected involvement in a kidnap/adoption scheme and the disappearance of an infant returned to him after a family backed out of an adoption, were suspicious and had Annie exhumed. It was revealed that she had died from an abortion. Mottard was arrested on suspicion of homicide. 

During the investigation, police searched Mottard's ten-acre farm outside the city for evidence of more bodies after allegations arose that Mottard had also performed an abortion there on a young woman the previous January. An operating room and a machine gun were found in the 14-room farmhouse. A second homicide case was filed against Mottard by officials of Suffolk County, where the farm was located. They had evidence that one of Mottard's rural abortion patients had suffered the same fate as Annie Allison. Mottard admitted to having performed three abortions in the farmhouse but denied having performed the fatal one on Annie. 

September 28: Scanty Information on Two Deaths

On September 28, 1929, 29-year-old Barbara Auer died in Chicago from complications of an illegal abortion performed at an unknown place. The person or persons responsible were never identified or prosecuted, so we can't know if she availed herself of one of the plethora of physicians and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at that time.

Rhonda Hess was 20 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. After the procedure, she developed an infection. The infection led to problems with clotting of the blood. Rhonda was taken to Moss Regional Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she died on September 28, 1982.

Watch the video on YouTube.

September 27: From Safe and Legal in Los Angeles to Criminal and Deadly in Chicago

Yet Another Fatal Failure at Inglewood Women's Hospital, 1975

On September 13, 1975, 22-year-old Lynette Wallace underwent a safe and legal abortion at Inglewood Women's Hospital in Los Angeles County.

Early on the morning of September 27, Lynette went to the emergency room reporting abdominal pain. Staff reported that she became agitated and "difficult to handle." They put her in restraints, and she was pronounced dead of cardiopulmonary arrest at 10:53 AM.

The autopsy revealed what the abortionist should have detected -- the pregnancy had not been in Lynette's uterus but in her fallopian tube. The tube had ruptured, spilling blood and a 10-week fetus into Lynette's abdomen.

Women who seek abortion should be less likely to die of ruptured ectopic pregnancies than women who do not seek abortion. After all, the abortionist is supposed to perform an examination verifying the size of the uterus, and is supposed to visually examine the abortion tissue to be sure that the entire fetus and placenta are present. Also, a pathology examination is supposed to be done on the uterine contents to verify the presence of the entire fetal/placental unit. However, women who seek abortion are actually more likely to die of ruptured ectopic pregnancies than women who do not seek abortion. The pain and nausea associated with an ectopic pregnancy are often mistaken for ordinary post-abortion symptoms, and are ignored until the tube ruptures and the woman's life is in danger.

Lynette is one of many deaths currently attributed to Inglewood Women's Hospital (aka Inglewood Women's Clinic) in Los Angeles County. The others are Yvonne Tanner, Kathy Murphy, Belinda Byrd, Cora Lewis, and Elizabeth Tsuji.

 A Midwife's Work in Chicago, 1908

On September 23, 1908, "Mrs. G.," whom I call "Sophie," was admitted to Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Two weeks earlier, when she was ten weeks pregnant, she had undergone an abortion at the hands of a midwife. She began suffering from chills, fever, and abdominal pain about five days later. After two days of these symptoms, a physician treated her with a curettage to try to remove retained material, but this left Sophie feeling even worse.

Over the course of the ensuing week Sophie's condition deteriorated. When she was finally admitted she had a very tender, distended abdomen. Her pulse was racing at 120, her respiration a rapid 30. Her fever was 101.4. She was speaking incoherently. An internal examination found an enlarge uterus, a swollen cervix, and a purulent vaginal discharge.

On September 26, her condition was little changed. An additional surgery was attempted, involving dilating her cervix, curetting the uterus, then irrigating the uterus and packing it with gauze. The results were catastrophic. Sophie's fever spiked to 108.6, her pulse 160 and her respirations 58. She died on September 27, 19 hours after the surgery.

Watch the video on YouTube.

September 26: Courtesy of the National Abortion Federation: The Butcher of Avenue A

The National Abortion Federation promises the moon. Their providers are the safest in the land. In practice, they don't exactly live up to their sterling reputation. Case in point: Dr. Abu Hayat, "The Butcher of Avenue A."

NAF member Abu Hayat

On September 17, 1990, 17-year-old Sophie McCoy ("Patient C") went to the office of National Abortion Federation member Abu Hayat. Sophie was accompanied by her mother and by the husband of the operator of a facility identified as "the Willoughby Avenue Clinic." She had been referred to him, but medical board documents do not say by whom.

Sophie and her mother returned to Hayat's office the next day and paid $300 for the safe, legal abortion. Sophie was given intravenous medications which put her to sleep. She was kept about four hours and discharged with another prescription for antibiotics.

That evening, Sophie was bleeding, had abdominal pain, and was having trouble breathing.

The next day, September 19, she was taken to a hospital, reporting vaginal bleeding, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Dr. Harding, who treated her, discovered that Sophie had a perforated uterus and serious sepsis. An emergency hysterectomy was performed, but Sophie developed disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) and septic shock. Sophie died on September 26. She left a one-year-old son motherless.

After Sophie's death, Hayat originally denied having treated her at all. But Sophie's mother identified Hayat by name and from a photograph.

While continuing to deny having treated Sophie, Hayat told one of the physicians who had tried to save her life that she had expelled a fetus at home and come to him for treatment, whereupon he'd sent her to the hospital. But Margie, an employee of his, recognized Sophie from a photo and said that Hayat had indeed treated the girl on two occasions. Margie added that after the second visit, Sophie's mother had called, hysterical and crying. Margie further said that she had seen medical records for Sophie at the facility, and that Hayat had argued with the referring clinic about  payments for Sophie's treatment.

The case was reported to the district attorney and the New York Health Department, but nobody took any action against Hayat until he pulled the arm off an infant during an abortion attempt in 1991. 

The child, Ana Rosa Rodriguez, (pictured), was born at a nearby hospital. Her right arm was entirely absent from the shoulder. 

Hayat was arrested, charged with assault and illegal third-trimester abortion, and convicted.

Watch What the National Abortion Federation Provides on YouTube.

September 26: Early 20th Century in Chicago

Mrs. Annie Heaney, age 28, died at Post Graduate Hospital in Chicago on September 26, 1906, from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. Like many women seeking abortions in Chicago at the time, Annie had availed herself of a physician's services. Dr. Jonathan L. Miller was arrested in the death.

On September 26, 1922, 35-year-old homemaker Mary Cybulski, a Polish immigrant, died at her Chicago home from peritonitis caused by a criminal abortion performed there that day. On November 15, Lucy Kozolwski, whose profession is not given, was indicted for felony murder in Mary's death.

September 25: Habitually Deadly both Pre- and Post-Legalization

Septic Shock in Alabama, 1989

Debra Walton was 35 years old when she underwent an abortion in the fall of 1989. On September 24, 1989, about three weeks after the abortion, she was admitted to University Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. She was in septic shock. Despite efforts to save her, she died the next day, September 25, 1989. Her death certificate does not say where the abortion took place or who performed it.

The Unsavory Leo Kenneally, 1986 

Twenty-two-year-old Liliana Cortez, an immigrant, underwent a safe and legal abortion by Leo Kenneally at his Her Medical Clinic in Los Angeles on September 20, 1986. Other than having asthma, Liliana was in good health when she went for her abortion. After the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest. There was a 40-minute delay until the paramedics arrived to transport Liliana to a hospital. She died five days later. Donna Heim and Michelle Thames also died after abortions at Her Medical Clinic.

Safe and Legal in 1978

Minnie Lathan is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. Minnie was 41 when she had an abortion and tubal ligation performed some time in September of 1978. Her uterus was perforated and her colon damaged during the procedure. She developed an infection and was hospitalized at Cleveland Clinic Hospital. She died there on September 25.

Chicago Physicians, 1925

On September 25, 1925, Faye McGinnis, a 23-year-old clerk, died at her home in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. The coroner identified two physicians, Walter Penningdorf and Walter Voight, as being responsible. For Faye to choose a physician abortionist was common in Chicago in that era, though midwives were a popular choice as well. The doctors were arrested on September 25 and indicted for felony murder on October 15. Faye's husband, Roy McGinnis, was also arrested as an accomplice in his wife's death.

The Infamous Lucy Hagenow Gets her Start in Chicago, 1892

At about 9:00 on the morning of Sunday, September 25, 1892, 30-year-old Sophia Kuhn "died in great agony" at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. She had been brought there by ambulance the previous evening from Dr. Louise Hagenow's practice at 882 West Madison Street.

"That the woman died from the result of a most cruel criminal operation is fairly well established, and an inquest to-day will beyond question reveal the details of what has every appearance of being little less than a butchery."

Louise "Lucy" Hagenow

Louise Hagenow and Ellen Hellieu were arrested. Sophia's father identified them as responsible for his daughter's death. Sophie, who had been separated from her husband for about two years, had been living with her sister, Mrs. White, at the time of the pregnancy and abortion. Sophie's brother-in-law, William White, said, "My sister-in-law left home about two weeks ago. She was then complaining of being sick and in trouble. I am certain she did not go to Mrs. Hagenow and the other doctors of her own accord. There was a man in the case who must have persuaded her to submit to an operation."

While police were interviewing Hagenow, who also used the name Lucy Hagenow, at her practice, Hellieu "rushed breathless into her apartments. When she saw Dr. Hagenow's interviewer, she exclaimed: 'Don't say anything!' Then she sank exhausted upon a sofa."

Hagenow had already been implicated in the abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, Annie Dories, Abbie Richards, Emma Dep in San Francisco before relocating to Chicago in 1890.

She was implicated in the abortion deaths of Minnie Deering in 1891. Shortly after Sophie's death, Hagenow was again arrested, this time for the abortion death of Emily Anderson. Further abortion deaths associated with Hagenow's Chicago practice include Hannah Carlson in 1896, Marie Hecht in 1899, May Putnam in 1905, Lola Maddison in 1906, and Annie Horvatich in 1907.

Hagenow went to prison for Annie's death. After her release she went back to business and was implicated in the deaths of Lottie Lowy, Nina Pierce, Jean Cohen, Bridget Masterson, and Elizabeth Welter in 1925. She was imprisoned for the last time for the 1926 death of Mary Moorehead.

Watch Habitual Offenders on YouTube.

September 24, 1927: Nurse Implicated for the Second Time

On September 24, 1927, 35-year-old homemaker Martha Kohnke died in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day. Nurse Emma Schultz was held by the coroner on October 5 according to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database.

Schultz had also been implicated in the abortion death of Mary Bambrick in October of 1911, but that case never went to trial.

September 23: Antiquated and Deadly Abortion and a Funeral Interrupted

Wisconsin, 1995: Antiquated Technique Proves Fatal Again

The widower of a Wisconsin teacher killed in a safe, legal abortion has filed suit against the hospital training the resident who did the procedure. Linda Boom, age 35, went to Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee for an abortion on September 21, 1995.

Linda and her husband, Dennis Boom, had married in 1993 and planned to start a family. Linda learned that she was pregnant in June of 1995, but in September elected abortion because the fetus had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Linda's aunt had Down Syndrome, which Linda believed meant "no life."

Fourth-year resident Karen S. Watson administered an amnioinfusion. Linda reported pain and said she was "burning up all over." This is consistent with what a woman might experience during a botched saline abortion. Watson's supervising physician, Daniel Gilman, injected more chemicals into Linda's uterus. Dennis Boom's attorney, Patrick Dunphy, said that the two injections caused the heart damage that killed Linda 36 hours after the first injection.

Watson did not use ultrasound to guide the needle injecting the poison into Linda, and apparently she injected the chemicals directly into Linda's bloodstream instead of into the amniotic sac.

The defense, of course, says that there was no negligence. Also, the hospital says that Gilman is responsible for Linda's death, because he performed the second injection and was supervising Watson. Gilman can't be named in the suit because the statute of limitations expired before Linda's husband filed.

News coverage of the case does not indicate why Watson and Gilman chose the antiquated instillation technique for Linda's abortion. Since the late 1960s, nations such as Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union had abandoned instillation abortions as being far too dangerous for the mother. US abortionists began abandoning the technique in the mid-1980s.

New York, 1971: The Same Antiquated Abortion Technique Proves Fatal

"Barbara" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion. Barbara was 35 years old when she traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion in 1971, taking advantage of New York's enlightened abortion law. She was 20 weeks pregnant.

The doctor chose a saline abortion, which works by injecting a strong sterile salt solution into the amniotic fluid. As the fetus swallows and inhales the solution, it experiences massive internal hemorrhaging. Once the fetus dies, the woman goes into labor. Within 24 hours of being injected with saline for the abortion, she went into convulsions, then her heart stopped.

Efforts to save her failed. She died on September 23, 1971, leaving behind five children. The autopsy could find no anatomical cause of death.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. In addition to "Danielle," I know of a dozen women who died in New York state from safe and legal abortions in 1971. I know of six who died in the second half of 1970, after abortion was legalized, and another six who died in 1972.

Watch Safe and Legal, Antiquated and Deadly on YouTube.

Chicago, 1912: Suspicions at the Undertaking Establishment

Anna Rice

On Monday, September 23, 1912, the body of Anna "Annie" Rice was taken from the Chicago home of Dr. Maximillian Meinhardt to the undertaking establishment of E. I. Harty. Dr. Henry G. W. Reinshardt, the deputy coroner, went to Harty's business, saw Annie's body on the slab, and questioned Harty. He learned that the death certificate said that the young woman had died of pneumonia, but that her body showed signs of trauma. .Reinhardt considered this fishy and performed an autopsy. He was able to determine that Annie had died of abortion complications, but was unable to determine from examination of the body if the abortion had been self-inflicted or perpetrated by somebody else.

Another deputy coroner, David G. Gillespie, convened a coroner's jury to investigate the circumstances of the fatal abortion. He found out that Annie had gone to Meinhardt's home the previous Saturday. Meinhardt said that she was already seriously ill and he provided care for her because she refused to go to a hospital. Annie's friends and relatives, however, said she'd been in good health when they'd seen her last.

On Monday morning, Annie was so sick that Meinhardt overrode her wishes and summoned an ambulance. Annie collapsed and died right as the ambulance was pulling up. After tracking down her relatives, he said, he'd sent the body to the undertaker of their choice.

Meinhardt insisted, even after the autopsy, that the young woman had died of heart failure and pneumonia. So far I've been unable to determine the outcome of the case.

Meinhard went on to be embroiled in the August 1915 abortion death of Stella Cams at his Lake Shore Hospital and the 1917 abortion death of Emma Melvin.

1907: Abortion in Indiana, Death in Chicago

On September 23, 1907, 27-year-old homemaker Mabel Brock of Lake Station, Indiana, died in Chicago's John Streeter Hospital. The coroner's jury determined that she had died from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Mrs. Bertha Laube of Hobart, Indiana on September 5. 

Laube was originally charged with murder but the indictment was reduced to criminal abortion and she was released on house arrest pending trial.

During the case, there was squabbling before the judge by the defense and the prosecution about what testimony Dr. Clara Faulkner would be allowed to give concerning conversations she'd had with Mabel prior to her death regarding Laube having perpetrated the fatal abortion.

As the closing arguments were made, Laube sat beside her husband, expressionless. Mabel's father, Charles Seydel, sat weeping with his face in his hands. Laube's attorney closed his statement by saying, "Convict [Laube] and you accuse Mabel Brock of having abortion committed upon her, a charge that you would not make against one that is dead."

After 24 hours of deliberation the jury was deadlocked 6 to 6. Mabel's father pushed for a new trial.

Distraught over his wife's death and not wanting to face another trial, Mabel's widower, Frank, shot himself to death on her grave on March 26, 1908. I've been unable to determine if the second trial was pursued. (See newly added sources below.)

Chicago, 1899: A Funeral Interrupted

On Sunday, September 24, 1899, police stopped the funeral procession of 29-year-old Mary Kakacek. Her body was taken for an autopsy. The coroner's jury concluded that Mary's death in her home the previous day had been due to a criminal abortion perpetrated by midwife Annie Stanek. Mary's use of a midwife was typical of Chicago illegal abortions of the era, that were frequently perpetrated by medical professionals.

During her final illness, Mary had made a dying statement telling of her visits to Stanek, stating that she was treated harshly by the midwife. Stanek was held without bail by the Coroner's Jury.

Watch Hiding the Bodies Wasn't That Simple on YouTube.

Newly Added Sources:

• "Mrs. Laube is Indicted," Lake County Times, September 27, 1907
• "Laube Case Now On," Lake County Times, October 16, 1907
• "Both Sides Fight Hard in Laube Case," Lake County Times, October 17, 1907
• "Laube Trial Nears Close," Lake County Times, October 23, 1907
• "Laube Case Now Rests With Jury," Lake County Times, October 24, 1907
• "Disagreement in Laube Case," Lake County Times, October 25, 1907
• "Laube Case to be Reopened," Lake County Times, October 31, 1907
• "Tries Suicide Over Young Wife's Grave," The Star Press, March 27, 1908

September 22: The False Lure of Safe, Legal Abortion

"Amanda" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. After years of research I was able to identify her. To allow her family to maintain their privacy, I am giving her a pseudonym "Linda Michelle Hoffman."

Linda was a 19-year-old Indiana University sophomore and an outstanding student when she traveled from Indiana to New York for a legal abortion in 1970. She was 12 weeks pregnant. The doctor performed the abortion on September 3. He was unable to remove any of the fetus or placenta. For some reason, he did not suspect a problem. He discharged Linda and she returned home. 

Upon her return, she suffered from pain, nausea, and vomiting, so she sought care from a physician in her community. She was admitted to the Indiana University Medical Center's William G. Coleman hospital with a perforated uterus.

Her doctor performed a lapartotomy, and found that the fetus was still inside Linda's perforated uterus. The abortion was completed and the hole in her uterus was repaired. After the surgery, she had a series of complications beginning with difficulty breathing. On September 10, doctors performed a hysterectomy. She continued to be treated in the hospital, but despite all their efforts she died on September 22.

Dr. Paul Jarrett was one of the doctors who tried to save her life. His full story is here. This is what he had to say about the death of the woman I've concluded was Linda:

A few months into my residency, I came face to face with the issue of abortion for the first time. An 18-year-old Indiana University coed came into Coleman Hospital with lower abdominal pain. She related to me that she had been to New York City earlier that day to have a legal abortion performed at a clinic there. She had gotten on a plane at 8am at Indianapolis International Airport and flown to New York. She was taken to a legitimate clinic by a cab driver. She had believed she was two and a half months pregnant, but after the doctor had unsuccessfully attempted to abort the pregnancy, he told her she wasn't really pregnant after all and sent her home. She returned to Indiana on the 4pm flight as planned.

When she returned home in terrible pain, she realized she was in trouble and for the first time, told her mother what had happened to her. Her mother contacted her own gynecologist, who in turn referred the patient to Coleman Hospital to be evaluated by the resident on call--me. 

Even though I was still wet behind the ears, I know that this pale, frightened little girl was still 10 weeks pregnant and her blood count was only half of what it should be. The private, attending doctor came in and took the patient to surgery immediately that night, where he repaired the hole that had been torn in the back of her uterus, which had caused her massive internal hemorrhage.

Over the course of the next few days, infection set in which did not respond to antibiotics, and we made the painful decision to perform a hysterectomy. Tragically, the shock from the infection severely damaged her lungs and her course was steadily downhill. As I helplessly watched, she slipped into unconsciousness and a few days later she died.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. 

Watch The False Promise of Safety on YouTube.

September 21: Little-Noted Death in Chicago

On September 9, 1930, 20-year-old telephone operator Matilda Kleinschmidt underwent a criminal abortion, believed to have been performed in the office of Dr. J. Murney Nicholson. 

When she took ill, her boyfriend told her that he would call in another doctor to care for her. Matilda insisted, "Another doctor won't look at me. He won't take the case."

Matilda died on September 21. On September 22, Nicholson was held by the coroner for murder. John C. Ross was held as an accessory. Nicholson was indicted for felony murder in Matilda's death.

Watch Few Clues in Chicago on YouTube.

September 18: Falsified Documents and Inadequate Equipment

One of Three at a National Abortion Federation Clinic, 2003

Dr. Alberto Hodari

According to this administrative complaint, Regina Johnson (Identified only by the initials R.J.) was 32 years old when she went to Womancare of Southfield, Michigan on September 18, 2003. The clinic was owned by Dr. Abraham Alberto Hodari, darling of Medical Students for Choice. Regina was pregnant for the fourth time, having given birth once, and either aborted or miscarried twice. Hodari, owner of Womancare, was not present at the time.

Nurse Litchtig performed an ultrasound, "even though there was no physician order for the study. She interpreted the study as showing a five week pregnancy and signed [Hodari's] name..." Nathanson initialed  the ultrasound to confirm Lichtig's finding.

CRNA Thompson did the anesthesia while Dr. Milton Nathanson did the abortion. Regina was given 200 mg of Diprivan, 2 mg Fentanyl, .2mg Gylcopyrrolate, and Droperidol to anestetize her for the abortion, which was charted as taking place from 9:55 to 10:05 a.m.

Regina was then sent to the recovery room, along with five or six other patients under the care of Litchtig. Though clinic protocol required more than one staff person present when patients were in recovery, Lichtig was sometimes alone in caring for the patients.

Though Hodari's recovery room was equipped with a stethescope, oxygen bag/valve mask, and digital blood pressure cuff, it was not equipped with an EKG monitor, pulse oximeter, or automatic blood pressure/pulse monitor with alarm for monitoring patients, or with oxygen, a defibrillator, or other resuscitation equipment.

Lichtig recorded Regina's blood pressure and pulse manually upon admission to recovery, and at 10 - 15 minute intervals. At 10:05, Regina's blood pressure and pulse were a normal 116/72 and 82. At 10:15, they were 108/56 and 88. This fall in blood pressure and rise in pulse, especially in combination, are an early sign that a patient might be suffering complications such as blood loss. However, Lichtig reported that Regina's respiration was easy and unlabored.

The document notes that Lichtig was actually performing above the call of duty: Womancare protocol only required her to check a patient's vitals upon arrival in recovery, at 15 minues, and at discharge, usually after about an hour in recovery. Hodari's protocol also allowed for the nurse to discharge patients from the clinic. "There was no provision that the patient be seen by a physician once she was transferred to the recovery room."

At 10:30, Lichtig was unable to rouse Regina, who still had a pulse and unlabored breathing. Lichtig tried for about ten minutes to awaken Regina. At about 10:40, she could no longer detect a pulse. She immediately told CRNA Thompson, who was then wheeling another patient into recovery. The two of them brought Regina back to the OR and began performing CPR. However, nobody called 911 until 11:00, twenty minutes after noting that Regina was pulseless. EMS arrived promptly, at 11:05.

EMS took Regina to Providence Hospital, where with continued CPR and got a pulse. Regina was put on life support, but was pronounced brain dead. She was taken off life support and declared dead on September 18. An autopsy determined that Regina had died from anoxic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest. In other words, she died because her brain had been deprived of oxygen.

The Administrative Complaint found Hodari to be negligent, incompetent, and lacking in good moral character. Hodari did not contest the findings, instead cooperating with bringing his facility up to standards to pass an inspection by an anesthesiologist in February of 2009. But in the mean time, he'd performed the fatal abortions on Tamiia Russell and Chivon Williams in 2004.

The state Attorney General's office fined Hodari $10,000 on March 4, 2009, for his part in the death.

The latest National Abortion Federation update no longer lists Womancare as a member, though they were recently. They certainly were in 2004, when Chivon and Tamiia died, which is the oldest page of Michigan NAF members that I can find on the Internet Archive. Womancare was also still a member in 2007, the most recent update on the Internet Archive. I'd be very interested in having NAF Annual Reports so I could look up what years Hodari and his mills were members.

Safe and Legal in North Carolina, 1993

Thirty-six-year-old Kathy McKnight (pictured) of Charlotte, North Carolina underwent an abortion on September 17, 1993. Early the next morning, Kathy had trouble breathing. She was taken to University Memorial Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kathy died in the emergency room. Her autopsy revealed that she died of a pulmonary embolism.

An Unknown Perp in Oklahoma, 1958

Shortly after 1:00 in the morning on September 18, 1958, Frank Tarbet of Norman, Oklahoma, was awakened by a knock on the door. Outside he found "Bettina," the 12-year-old daughter of his neighbor, 31-year old "Glenda Coe" (named changed at request of family). The little girl said that her mother was "very cold." Tarbet went with Bettina to Glenda's bedroom, where he found her dead on her bed, dressed in street clothes except for shoes. Tabet notified the police at 1:18 a.m.

The police questioned Bettina, who said that at around 8:00 the previous evening she and her four younger sisters had gotten ready for bed. At around 8:30 Glenda had taken off her shoes and laid down on her bed. The girls retired for the night. Bettina woke at around 1:00 and been unable to awaken her mother. 

Tabet told police that he had seen a pickup truck leave Glenda's house at around 10:45 the previous evening. His daughter told police that she'd seen the pickup at around midnight, and somebody had carried a woman from the truck into the Coe home. Glenda's first husband, plumber James P. Morton, was picked up by the police and brought to the station at around 2:40 a.m. He owned a pickup truck matching the description of the truck the neighbors had seen at Glenda's house. The couple had been divorced for about a year. Glenda and her second husband, "Oscar Coe," had been married for about eight months but he and Glenda has separated and she had filed for divorce in July. Oscar was quickly dismissed by the police as not involved in Glenda's death.

There were no obvious signs of foul play. At first, authorities suspected either natural death or a suicide. However, Glenda's neck was slightly swollen and discolored and all evidence indicated that Glenda, a former waitress, had been in good health before her death. X-rays found no injuries. An autopsy found that Glenda had died due to air bubbles in her bloodstream, and that she had been pregnant at the time of her death. A more careful examination determined that Glenda had died from an abortion attempt.  

Morton was held for murder by the police but I have been unable to determine if or how the case proceeded. (See newly added sources, below.)

A Doctor in Tacoma, 1929

Sometime most likely in September of 1929, physician and surgeon H. W. Coulter performed an abortion upon 21-year-old Gene Raligh, leading to her death in Tacoma, Washington on September 18 from septicemia. 

Gene's survivors alleged that not only did Coulter injure her, but he also failed to treat her infection and instead concealed the extent of her illness and injury, preventing her from getting medical care that might have saved her life.

Census records still show Coulter living at home with his wife in 1930, so if he was prosecuted he was not convicted.

NEWLY ADDED SOURCES:

• "Mother of Four Found Dead Here," The Norman Transcript, September 18, 1958
• "1st Husband Held In Woman's Death," The Norman Transcript, September 19, 1958
• "Death Probe Continuing," The Norman Transcript, September 22, 1958

September 17: When a Cute Blonde Girl Dies, it Gets Attention

With abortion, as with anything else, it seems, you need a cute blue-eyed blonde to get the MSM's attention. Thus they noticed when Holly died. 

Holly Patterson, age 18, was a high-achiever. She graduated from Granada High School in Livermore, California in only three years.

When she got pregnant in the early fall of 2003, she only told one person: her boyfriend, Ehsan Bashi. He accompanied her to a Planned Parenthood in Hayward, California on September 10. There, Holly was diagnosed as 17-weeks pregnant and administered the first drug for her abortion: mifepristone. She was sent home with pain medications and the second drug: misoprostol. She was told to self-administer the misoprostol at home the next day and return in a week ton confirm that the abortion had been successful.

The FDA recommended regimen calls for the second drug to be administered between the cheek and gums. However, this can cause nausea and vomiting, so Planned Parenthood instructed women to administer the drug vaginally. 

Three days later, Holly called Planned Parenthood and reported severe abdominal cramping. The person she spoke to told her that this was normal and to take her painkillers. If the symptoms didn't improve, she was told, then she should go to the emergency room.

The following day Holly was still in severe pain and was bleeding heavily. She went to the emergency room at Valley Care Medical Center and told the doctor there about the abortion. That doctor injected her with narcotic pain medications and sent her home.

The narcotics didn't help. On the morning of September 17 -- weak, vomiting, and unable to walk -- Holly returned to the hospital. They admitted her shortly after 9 a.m. and called her father, Monty Patterson, telling him to hurry because his daughter was intensive care. 

This was the first Monty knew about the pregnancy and abortion.

He rushed to the hospital. "Holly was intubated, and I went and held her and said, 'I don't know what happened but I'm here to help, to get you well.' The look in her eyes said, 'Dad, save me.'"

She died shortly before 2 pm, with her father at her side. The cause of death was septic shock from Clostridium sordelli.

Monty told the San Francisco Chronicle, "The medical community treats this as a simple pill you take, as if you're getting rid of a headache. The procedure, the follow-ups, it's all too lackadaisical. The girl gets a pill. Then she's sent home to do the rest on her own. There are just too many things that can go wrong."

Monty wanted to know why Planned Parenthood didn't follow the FDA-recommended regimen. He wanted to know why they sent her to the emergency room instead of to a specially trained doctor who would know how to treat abortion pill complications. He wanted to know why Holly and other women like her weren't given enough information to understand what is and isn't cause for concern in these kinds of abortions. 

Three other women were identified as having died of infection deaths after RU-486 deaths in the Los Angeles area: Chanelle Bryant, Oriane Shevin, and Vivian Tran. Like Holly, Chanelle got her abortion drugs at a Planned Parenthood, as did Vivian. Oriane got hers at a National Abortion Federation member clinic.

Sources:

• "Teen dies after taking abortion pill," NBC News, September 22, 2003
• "Family, friends pay tribute / Woman who died after taking abortion pill buried in Livermore," SFGate, September 25, 2003
• "Taker of abortion pill died due to infection," SFGate, November 1, 2003
• "One dad's questions about pill / RU-486 proven safe, yet a daughter died," SFGate, September 26, 2004
• "Safety Of Abortion Pill Questioned," CBS News, November 16, 2004
• "Abortion Pill Investigated in Four California Deaths," Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2005
• "Man Blames Daughter's Death on Abortion Pill," ABC News, May 17, 2006
• "Monty Patterson learns about RU-486 the hard way," SFGate, December 5, 2011
• Patient Safety Movement: Holly Patterson

Tammy Harris Clipping

Gracealynn "Tammy" Harris was 19 years old when she underwent an abortion by Dr. Mohammad Imran at Delaware Women's Health Organization on September 16, 1997. She was 18 weeks pregnant.

After the procedure, Tammy was weak, and needed a wheelchair to leave the facility. Reports indicate that Tammy also may have had a seizure in front of the clinic nurses. She died that day.

Tammy's family filed suit against Imran and the clinic.

Imran's attorney said that Tammy's death was the clinic's fault. He said that the clinic staff did not monitor Tammy's vital signs, and did not inform him of her condition.

The family's lawyer faulted Imran with leaving the clinic to go to another facility before Tammy was stable.

The lawsuit resulted in $2,252,000 to Tammy's family. The money was put into a court-controlled account for Tammy's son, who was nine months old when his mother died. Imran's insurance company was defunct, so he had to settle again with Tammy's family. He was last known to be practicing medicine, including obstetrics, in New Jersey.

Watch Shoved Out the Door to Die on YouTube.

Source: "$2.2 million awarded in abortion death," The (Wilmington, DE) News Journal, January 16, 2002

September 16: An Immigrant Family's Dreams Destroyed

Dr. David Gluck's medical license had been revoked for three years after selling controlled substances to finance his gambling addiction. Two months later he was still working as Medical Director at Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health (C.R.A.S.H.) when abortion patient "K.B." died in 1988. Authorities who inspected the clinic after K.B's death found the place filthy, and noted that K.B.'s post-operative report charted her as "pink, responsive, alert," even though she had gone into full cardio-respiratory arrest during the procedure. Authorities shut the place down, leaving the unlicensed Gluck unemployed.

He found work, though, at Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens. The Choices clinic director said "We are firmly committed to helping people who are skilled medical professionals who have had a fall from grace."

Their kindness to Gluck was not a kindness to 36-year-old Alerte Desanges, an immigrant from Haiti. Told that her 19-week fetus had deformities, Alerte went to Choices for a safe, legal abortion on September 16, 1994. She didn't survive the day.

Staff said that after Gluck had completed her abortion, Alerte was "feisty, telling nurses she wanted to go home. Then all of a sudden, she coded, she went into cardiac arrest." Her blood pressure fell. Staff attempted to revive her, then transported her to a hospital. Her death was tentatively attributed to amniotic fluid embolism by staff.

Alerte's 66-year-old mother, who speaks only French, was described as throwing her hands in the air and sobbing, "What are we going to do? What are we going to do? We can't go back to Haiti." Alerte had supported her mother and three daughters working as a caretaker for an elderly woman, and had just bought a small house in Brooklyn. With her, the family's dreams died.

September 15: A Habitual Offender in New York and Death in Chicago

A New York Midwife, 1902

Lena Schott

On September 15, 1902, Mrs. Henrietta Appel, age 31, died in New York from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Lena Schott (pictured). The police had been notified about the abortion by Henrietta's husband, Samuel, while she was on her deathbed. Henrietta admitted the abortion to the authorities and indicated that her husband had not known about it.

When police went to arrest Schott, they had to break into the home, and found Schott in the basement. She attacked the arresting officer, Captain Elbert O. Smith, nearly tearing off his uniform and pinning him on the floor until other officers could restrain her. After her arrest, Schott admitted that she had treated Henrietta.

Schott had previously been implicated in the abortion deaths of Mary Gibson, Mary Ryan, Nellie Monohan, and Emily Binney.

An Unknown Chicago Abortionist, 1925

On September 15, 1925, Mary Williams, a 25-year-old Black woman born in Mississippi, died at Chicago's County Hospital from an abortion performed on her that day at an undisclosed location. The person responsible for Mary's death was never identified, so it's impossible to know if she availed herself of one of the plethora of doctors and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago.

A Chicago Midwife, 1926

On September 15, 1926, 23-year-old Mary Bailek, a native of Poland, died at Chicago's Lutheran Deaconnes Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed at her home that day. Rozalia Ossowska, alias Olszewski, was arrested for the death on October 7. Her profession is not given but according to the 1930 Census she was a midwife. She was born around 1888 in Germany and immigrated to the US in 1906. On March 15, 1927, she was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury.

September 14: How Little Things Changed in Over Two Hundred Years

1992: Slow collapse and death

Rhonda Rollinson underwent a safe, legal abortion by Dr. Jay I. Levin at Malcom Polis's Philadelphia Women's Center September 3, 1992. The abortion attempt was unsuccessful. Rhonda was then sent home, with instructions to return on September 12 to try again.

Rhonda experienced such severe pain, dizziness, fever, and discharge that on September 10 she sought emergency care at a hospital. She was suffering "severe non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema consistent with adult respiratory distress syndrome."

Doctors did a laparoscopy, dilation and evacuation, abdominal hysterectomy, and splenectomy, to no avail. Rhonda died on September 14. The autopsy revealed a perforation from her vagina into the uterine cavity, sepsis, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a severe and often fatal clotting disorder), non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis, pulmonary infarctions, and dysplastic kidney.

The suit filed by Rhonda's survivors also charged the facility and Polis with hiring Levin despite his lack of competence, failure to properly supervise his work, violation of applicable laws and regulations, lack of informed consent, failure to give proper post-operative instructions, and failure "to respond to the requests of [Rhonda] and her family for post-operative medical advice."

A 1928 Chicago abortion

On September 14, 1928, 20-year-old Stella Wallenberg died from a criminal abortion performed in Chicago. Loretta Rybicki, identified as a "massaguer", was held by the coroner for murder by abortion. Dr. Nicholas Kalinowski was held as an accessory. Rybicki was indicted for felony murder on November 15.

1925: More of Lucy Hagenow's handiwork

Elizabeth Welter moved from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin to Chicago in the fall of 1924. On September 14, 1925, the 19-year-old clerk died at John B. Murphy Hospital from complications of an abortion perpetrated about a week earlier. 

Mrs. Alta Vail told the deputy coroner, "Elizabeth roomed at 658 Roscoe street. A week ago she came to me and said she was very sick. I told her to stay at my home until she was better. Little by little she told me her story. She had obtained a position as a clerk in a store. Some months ago she began going out with a man. This man, she said, was responsible for her condition. She did not even know his name, she told me."

Lawrence Vail -- who according to 1930 census records was Alta's husband --  was identified by the coroner as responsible for the pregnancy, and the coroner recommended his arrest, along with the arrest of known abortionist Dr. Lucy Hagenow.

Hagenow was held to the grand jury on $20,000 bond (nearly $150,000 in 2020 dollars). However, because Vail refused to give a statement, police were unable to gather enough evidence to prosecute. Elizabeth was the 17th of 18 abortion deaths that have been connected to Hagenow. (See newly-added sources below.)

A tragic case from Colonial America

The oldest case I have in the Cemetery of Choice is the 1742 death of 19-year-old Sarah Grosvenor. Her story is recounted extensively in public records, but begins, predictably, with a lover who didn't love her enough to marry her once she was pregnant with his child. Sarah's family rallied around her, trying to save both her life and her reputation, but by the time they realized that she was pregnant and in the middle of an herbal abortion, the die was cast. Though Dr. John Hallowell shut himself in the room with Sarah on several occasions to provide some sort of care, Sarah breathed her last on September 14.

Her death-dealing abortionist had always been a marginal practitioner who lived a lot of his life on the wrong side of the law. Her faithless lover had been a high-standing member of the community. Sarah was buried, and life in the little town went on.

Suddenly, about a year after Sarah's death, warrants were issued for the arrests of the culpable parties and a hearing was held, determining that Hallowell was guilty of murder, and that Sarah's lover, Amasa Sessions, was an accessory. This was a preliminary finding, and called for prosecution. At first the case -- against Hallowell, at least -- was pushed vigorously. Hallowell was found guilty and sentenced to be shamed, whipped, and imprisoned. He escaped before this sentence could be carried out, and vanished from public view. Nobody went to any trouble to find him.

As for Amassa Sessions, he regained his fine standing in the community, married, and fathered a house full of children before dying at a ripe old age. Reading the laudatory inscription on his headstone, one can almost hear the weeping of the mourners, the family and distinguished persons of the town, as they lay Amasa Sessions, pillar of the community, to rest. Less than 25 feet away lay Sarah Grosvenor, nearly 50 years dead -- evidently forgotten.

Watch A Colonial Era Death and Another Victim of Lucy Hagenow on YouTube.

NEWLY ADDED SOURCES

Elizabeth Welter:

• "Girl's Brief Fling With City Night Life," Mattoon (IL) Journal Gazette, September 14, 1925
• "Woman Surgeon Sought Following Girl's Death," Chicago Tribune, September 15, 1925
• "Lucy Hagenow, Midwife, Held in Death of Girl," Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1925