Day, who intended to become a doctor, had studied the information he could find about abortion methods, then perpetrated the abortion in his apartment using a catheter on September 10, 1970.
Nancy bled heavily so Day rushed her in his car to Holyoke Hospital. The young woman was unconscious on arrival. Hospital staff notified the police, who arrested Day at around 7:30 that evening at the hospital.
Nancy, who had been about four months into her pregnancy, died of blood poisoning just after midnight on September 11, 1970, a few hours after her admission.
Abortion-rights advocates such as D. P. Kline made the claim that "pregnant women in Western Massachusetts faced two choices: to continue the pregnancy to term (and either keep the child or put it up for adoption) or to seek an illegal abortion. However, abortion had been legalized in New York, and hospitals in Boston were loosening their guidelines for "therapeutic" abortions. Why Nancy would submit to an illegal abortion when she was within less than 2 hours driving distance of a legal abortion remains a mystery.
Sources:
- "UMass Student Charged With Abortion," (Pittsfield MA) Berkshire Eagle, September 11, 1970
- "UM Student's Abortion Case Delayed," Greenfield (MA) Recorder, October 27, 1970
- "Bound Over In Abortion Death Case," Holyoke (MA) Daily Transcript, November 19, 1970
- "Do-It-Yourself Abortionist Sentenced," (Pittsfield MA) Berkshire Eagle, February 2, 1971
- D. P. Kline, Creating Choice, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment