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.
Choice of a Dangerous Procedure.
Saline abortions are dangerous even for healthy women. became very popular in Japan following WWII. Within the Japanese medical community, however, word quickly spread: this method was unsatisfactory. Too many women were being injured and killed. Over 70 papers were published in the Japanese medical community reporting hazards of saline abortions, including at least 60 maternal deaths. The Japanese Obstetrical and Gynecological Society condemned the technique, and it was quickly abandoned. But the Japanese abortionists kept news of the trouble among themselves -- until Western nations discovered instillation abortions and embraced them with great enthusiasm.
Two Japanese doctors, Takashi Wagatsuma and Yukio Manabe, broke the silence. Wagatsuma wrote, "It is, I think, worthwhile to report its rather disastrous consequences which we experienced in Japan." Manabe wrote, "It is now known that any solution placed within the uterus can be absorbed rather rapidly into the general circulation through the vascular system of the uterus and placenta. Thus any solution used in the uterus for abortion must be absolutely safe even if given by direct intravenous injection. ... A solution deadly to the fetus may be equally toxic and dangerous to the mother. ... In spite of the accumulating undesirable reports, the use of hypertonic saline for abortion is still advocated and used ... in the United States and Great Britain. I would like to call attention to the danger of the method and would predict the further occurrence of deaths until this method is entirely forgotten in these countries."
As western abortionists gained experience with saline abortions, other grim reports arose. A British study published in 1966 found that the saline would enter the mother's bloodstream and cause brain damage. Swedish researchers noticed an unacceptably high rate of complications and deaths. Sweden and the Soviet Union abandoned saline abortion as too dangerous for women in the late 1960s.
For whatever reasons, American abortionists were deaf to these warnings. When New York had completely repealed its abortion law, doctors had tremendous leeway in abortion practice. In New York City in particular, it became popular to inject the woman with the saline in the office, then send her home with instructions to report to a hospital when she went into labor. This was, to say the least, a highly irresponsible way to use an abortion technique that was risky even when performed in a hospital under close medical supervision. Women started dying from these reckless saline abortions.
Even Riskier for Carmen
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.
Defending Women vs. Defending Abortion
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. This "access über alles" attitude has never died in abortion-rights circles, in spite of appalling practices of the abortionists:
- In the 1980s, Janis Compton-Carr led the fight against regulations in the wake of the disgusting Dadeland scandal, which included the death of Ellen Williams.
- Continuing in the 1980s, the National Abortion Federation knew how bad Hillview was and kept their mouths shut, allowing Gideon Kioko to let Debra Gray and Susanne Logan die.
- In the 1990s, abortion-rights organizations started a legal defense fund for habitual quack Bruce Steir when he was being held accountable for the death of Sharon Hamplton.
- Over many decades and well into the 21st century, authorities and the National Abortion Federation made the choice to enable Kermit Gosnell's murders of live-born infants and the deaths of Semika Shaw and Karnamaya Mongar.
Detractors Proven Right
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; "Annie" 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; "Roseanne" 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; Pamela Modugno, 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
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