July 19, 1970: Risky Procedure Kills High-Risk Mother

Carmen Rodriguez* was 31 years old when she underwent a 14-week saline abortion at Lincoln Hospital in New York City. A saline abortion was performed by injecting a strong, sterile salt solution into the amniotic fluid. The fetus would then swallow and inhale the fluid, causing internal bleeding. After the fetus died, the woman would go into labor.

Carmen had a history of rheumatic heart disease and two previous live births. After the saline was injected, it got into Carmen's blood stream. This caused acute pulmonary edema -- fluid accumulation in the lungs -- and Carmen went into a coma from which she never recovered. She died on July 19, 1970, leaving behind a husband along with her children.

After Carmen's death, a militant Puerto Rican group, The Young Lords, swung into action. They pointed out that doctors at Lincoln Hospital knew that Carmen had heart problems and failed to take proper precautions -- a very valid claim. After all, saline abortions had long been known to be risky to the woman's heart. They demanded the resignation of Dr. Joseph J. Smith, the hospital chief of obstetrics and went so far as to physically remove him from the hospital and create such a disturbance that 27 doctors staged a walkout until the protests could be brought under control.

Merle Goldman, spokeswoman of an abortion advocacy organization, did not share The Young Lords' outrage. Ms. Goldman said she hoped that Carmen's death wouldn't deter other women from undergoing abortions. She touted abortion's reputed safety and stressed that her group was lobbying against proposed health department regulation of abortion practice.

New York City Chief Medical Examiner Milton Helpern, on the other hand, expressed concern that ill-equipped and poorly-staffed freestanding legal abortion facilities were posing a danger to women. New York City health officials noted that just within the city's hospitals there were three maternal deaths during the first 20 days of abortion-on-demand.

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 Carmen, these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

1970: Pearl Schwier,  cardiac arrest during abortion; Barbara Riley, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease; "Amanda" Roe, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus; Maria Ortega, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there; "Kimberly" Roe, cardiac arrest during abortion

1971: "Amy" Roe, massive pulmonary embolism; "Andrea" Roe, overwhelming infection; "Sandra" Roe, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse; "Anita" Roe, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion; Margaret Smith, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion; "Annie" Roe, cardiac arrest during anesthesia; "Audrey" Roe, cardiac arrest during abortion; "Vicki" Roe, post-abortion infection; "April" Roe, injected with saline for outpatient abortion, went into shock and died; "Barbara" Roe, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion; "Tammy" Roe, massive post-abortion infection; Carole Schaner, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion; "Beth" Roe, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream; "Roseann" Roe, vomiting with seizures causing pneumonia after saline abortion

1972: "Connie" Roe, cardiac arrest during abortion; "Julie" Roe, holes torn in her uterus and bowel; "Robin" Roe, lingering abortion complications; "Roxanne" Roe, given overdose of abortion sedatives; "Danielle" Roe, air in her bloodstream

The bulk of these deaths were published in a report by the New York Health Department covering the period from June of 1970 through June of 1972. 

Watch "Risky Procedure + High Risk Patient = Dead Woman" on YouTube.

* Carmen is "Alice" Roe on the Life Dynamics Blackmun Wall

Sources:

• "Abortion Death Reported by City," New York Times, July 21, 1970
• "Health Board Defers Action On Abortion Regulations," New York Daily News, July 22, 1970
• "3 Abortion Deaths Listed Since Start of New Law," New York Daily News, July 22, 1970
• "Lincoln Docs Firm in Walkout," New York Daily News, August 27, 1970