RealChoice: October 24, 1981: Mentally Disabled Teen Dies from Abortion

Saturday, October 24, 2026

October 24, 1981: Mentally Disabled Teen Dies from Abortion

SUMMARY: Dianne Boyd, age 19, died on October 24, 1981 after a drug error made during an abortion performed by Robert Crist at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, MO.

Dianne's Disability

Nineteen-year-old Dianne Alicia Boyd had the mental capacity of a 14-month-old child. She was cared for by her mother, Barbara Bates, until she was ten years old, then was placed in various facilities until finally being moved into St. Louis State Hospital's Developmental Disabilities training Center when she was around 18 years old. She lived on an all-female ward.

Dianne's Pregnancy

Grok AI illustration

Dianne was beaten and raped some time in July of 1981, and was later discovered to be pregnant. Dianne's mother was notified of the rape and pregnancy on September 25.

The rapist was never identified. Staff were questioned and polygraphed. Other patients couldn't be interviewed because, like Dianne, they were severely intellectually disabled. Walter Sloan, president of a patient advocacy group, said, "I doubt if anyone on that hall has the mental capacity of even a 5-year-old."

Dianne did not spend all of her time in the facility. She had attended two movies, four dances, three picnics, three swimming outings, one bowling outing, and two other unspecified field trips during the period in question. It was never determined if the rape took place at the facility or while Dianne was on an outing.

The Decision is Made for Diane and her Unborn Baby

Dianne's mother and a court-appointed guardian went before a judge to get permission for an abortion, which they held would be in Dianne's "best health interests." The judge gave approval on October 13.

As a black woman, Diane was at higher risk than a white woman for fatal abortion complications.

Dianne was 16 weeks pregnant when she was taken to Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri. Dianne's mother signed the consent form and the abortion was performed October 22, 1981 by Dr. Robert Crist.

Dianne stopped breathing, went into shock and was taken to the intensive Care Unit at Barnes Hospital. She was placed on a respirator. Her EEG showed flat brain waves, so Dianne was kept on life support until organ donation surgery could be arranged. She was removed from life support and pronounced dead at 1:30 pm on October 24.

The Allegations

According to suits later filed by Dianne's mother, RHS staff and abortionist Robert Crist did not check for possible drug interactions before giving Dianne valium and sublimaze. Dr. Mary Case of the St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office said that sublimaze could depress a patient's respiration. "This was a severely brain-damaged individual," Dr. Case told the United Press. "She could not tolerate any respiratory depressant. The reaction was totally unpredictable."

It's unclear how it would be unpredictable that a drug known to cause respiratory depression could have caused Dianne's respiratory depression, especially if given to a patient who was already taking thorazine. The drug combination is likely what caused Dianne to stop breathing.

Clinic staff told the Associated Press that they would never have administered the drugs they did to Dianne had they known that her disability had been caused by brain damage. But again, she was already taking a medication that could cause respiratory depression and gave her additional respiration-suppressing drugs.

Dianne's mother also said that the clinic lacked heart monitoring equipment or resuscitation equipment.

Dianne was not the last woman to die after abortion by Crist. Seventeen-year-old Latatchie Veal bled to death after an abortion by Crist in 1991. Twenty-two-year-old Nichole Williams died of DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulopathy) after an abortion by Crist in 1997.

Fourteen-year-old Sandra Kaiser committed suicide after a 1984 abortion at RHS, performed without her mother's knowledge or consent.

Sources: