Illegal in Chicago, Safe and Legal in Detroit

Illegal in Chicago, 1918

On January 8, 1918, 20-year-old newlywed and homemaker Margaret Balch died in a Chicago home from hemorrhage caused by an abortion perpetrated by a person who was never identified. Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America. For more information about abortion deaths in the 1910s, click here.

Safe and Legal in Detroit, 2004

Taisha Glenn, the sister of 15-year-old Tamiia Russell's 24-year-old "boyfriend", Stacy Glenn, arranged an abortion in early 2004 without notifying Tamiia's family. Stacy Glenn, according to Frances Russell, Tamiia's mother, is a reputed drug dealer who has not been located since Tamiia's death. He paid the $2000 for the abortion.

Taisha took the girl to five different Detroit area abortion facilities, and was turned away from all five because of how far advanced Tamiia's pregnancy was. She was at least six months pregnant. One facility reportedly even offered prenatal care and vitamins. Finally Taisha found an abortionist willing to proceed -- WomanCare, a Winthorop Village abortion facility run by abortionist Abraham Alberto Hodari. Despite the fact that the pregnancy was the result of statutory rape, and despite the fact that he had no permission from Tamiia's parents or guardian, as required by Michigan law, the clinic agreed to take the case. Tamiia used an identification card with another woman's picture to claim that she was 19, but according to Tamiia's cousin, the woman in the picture ID looked nothing like Tamiia.

Tamiia's presumably safe and legal abortion was begun on January 7, when laminaria was inserted. Laminaria are sticks of seaweed used to dilate the cervix. Once home, Tamiia confessed to her aunt and mother that she was pregnant and she had begun the abortion. Tamiia's mother said that she called the clinic, and staff told her that the abortion must be carried out once the laminaria are inserted. This is not true; laminaria can be removed and the pregnancy continued successfully to term with medical supervision.

Based on the false claim that Tamiia had no choice but to go through with the abortion, her mother drove her to WomanCare on January 8 for the actual procedure. Tamiia bled heavily after coming home from the abortion -- so heavily that the blood soaked a mattress. Tamiia's mother called WomanCare, where staff told her that such bleeding was normal and instructed them not to bring Tamiia to a hospital. Her family ignored this advice and called an ambulance, which rushed the girl to Sinai-Grace Hospital, where she was dead on arrival.

Dr. Leigh Hlavaty, who performed the autopsy on Tamiia, said that her death was caused by "uterine infarction with sepsis due to status second trimester abortion." Hlavaty said, "I ruled it normal because these complications are expected with this type of abortion."

Dr. Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, reports that there have been 23 lawsuits in the past 20 years against WomanCare facilities and Alberto Hodari for abortion injuries including complications resulting on hysterectomies on 19, 22, and 23-year-old women. All were dismissed, with many referring to undisclosed settlements. Hodari was also implicated in the deaths of Chivon Williams and Regina Johnson.

At the time of Tamiia's death, Womancare was a member of the National Abortion Federation.

For more abortion deaths in the first decade of the 21st century, click here.

Gosnell: The One that Got Away & Hope for Others

Ann McElhinney, one of the team currently crowdfunding a movie about serial killer Kermit Gosnell, lost her composure while reading part of the Grand Jury Report on his crimes.

But it wasn't the horror or the tragedy that left Ann so moved. It was the child that escaped, who didn't end up just another tiny body frozen in an empty orange juice carton.

From the Grand Jury Report:

We learned of another illegal, third-trimester abortion only because the mother changed her mind. In 2004, a 27-year-old woman went to Gosnell, pregnant with her first child. She testified that she was surprised when Gosnell told her she was 21 weeks pregnant. On the first day of what was to be a two-day procedure, Gosnell inserted dilators in the woman’s cervix. After Gosnell had finished inserting the laminaria, the woman asked him what happened to the babies after they were aborted. She testified that Gosnell told her they were burned.

At home, thinking over how Gosnell disposed of the fetuses, the woman had a change of heart. She called her cousin and the cousin called Gosnell to tell him that they wanted him to take the laminaria out. Gosnell said that he could not do that once the procedure was started. And he did not want to return the $1,300 that the patient had already paid. The pregnant woman ended up going to the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania to have the laminaria removed. It was determined at the hospital that she was 29 weeks pregnant. A few days later, the 27-year-old delivered a premature baby girl. She was treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is today a healthy kindergartener.

It's not at all unusual for an abortionist to lie to a woman who changes her mind and wants the laminaria removed.

Lied to: Tamiia Russell

Staff at Alberto "Licensed to Lie" Hodari's abortion clinic near Detroit told the family of 15-year-old statutory rape victim Tamiia Russell that she could not have the laminaria removed and the abortion halted. Hodari subsequently botched the abortion, and Tamiia bled to death.

Nicolette C changed her mind about a late abortion at Douglas Karpen's Houston abortion facility. Karpen not only refused to remove them, but lied to Nicolette and told her that it was impossible to remove them without endangering her life. After repeated scare tactics, Karpen finally sent Nicolette on her way with instructions to find an anti-abortion group in the Yellow Pages. Nicolette sought emergency care at a hospital, where she delivered a 1 lb. 13 oz. infant girl, who she named Ashley. Despite efforts by hospital staff, Ashley died six months later.

Gosnell worked
at a NAF clinic.

I listened to a tape of Karpen complaining at a National Abortion Federation meeting about how the prolifers were annoying him by offering to take his patients to a doctor who would remove the laminaria and allow them to continue their pregnancies. He complained about the patients he was losing that way. He asked for suggestions -- all of which centered around making the patient sign a paper promising that she would follow through with the abortion no matter what. Nobody ever addressed the obvious: If patients are changing their minds even after the abortion is started, maybe the clinic should stop initiating abortions on women who are so uncertain. 

One possible benefit of the Gosnell movie could be raising awareness that as long as the baby is still alive, it's not too late to at least try to halt the abortion. The laminaria can be removed. I don't know if there have been any studies to date that provide data on outcomes. The alternative to laminaria removal, however, is the certain death of the baby via abortion.

Supporting the Gosnell movie just might save a child's life, and spare a mother a lifetime of regret. A contribution to GosnellMovie.com need not set you back any more than $1 -- less than the cost of a cup of coffee or a bottle of water. If you can't contribute, or have already contributed funding, keep in mind that both prayer and spreading the word about the project are also vital contributions to the efforts. Together we spread a message of hope to women who think that it's too late.

For more about why it's vital that this movie be made, read:

• Verified: Gosnell Got Snipping Idea at NAF Seminar
• Gosnell Clinic Even Nastier than Grand Jury Reported
• The Gosnell Patient Who Barely Escaped With Her Life 
• Kermit Gosnell and the Milgram Experiment
• Gosnell and Viability: Where's the Line?  
• Why "Gosnell" Must be Told: The Compton-Carr Effect
• Gosnell and Post-Viability Abortions 
• Gosnell: Location Can Mean Misdemeanor vs. Murder 
• Gosnell: The Grand Jury Convened 
• Why the Left must Censor us on Gosnell: The "Outlier" Lie
• "Snipping" and why the Left Must Silence Us on Gosnell
• Semika Shaw and Why the Gosnell Story Must be Told

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