Yay! Searching for "abortion videos" finally has started bringing people to the abortion videos post.
Eastern Women's Center is the den of quackery where Venus Ortiz, Dawn Mack, and Dawn Ravenelle all submitted to their fatal abortions.
Yes, whoever was searching, it is possible to identify the sex of a fetus at 13 weeks. There was also interest in fetuses at 18 and 20 weeks.
A bad vaginal smell after an abortion could be a sign of infection or bowel injury. Seek medical care!
Someone was interested in scarring after abortion.
If you want to know about death by abortion, I specialize in cataloging the maternal deaths. You can visit the Cemetery of Choice to see all of the deaths I've learned about. There's also a search box at the top of the page if you're interested in something more specific.
Somebody was interested in books about perinatal hospice, which is a way of providing comfort care to babies and their mothers and families in cases where there has been a fatal fetal diagnosis. I can't find any books on the topic.
Air embolism from abortion was another search. I have the following fatal cases: Laura France, Betty Ladel, Elizabeth Radcliffe, Sharonda Rowe, Rhonda Ruggiero, Barbara Lofrumento (suspected), Adelle Roe (suspected), Cindy Roe, and Gaylene Golden.
As for hospitals in Atlanta that do abortions, I'd not recommend any of them. Sara Niebel underwent her fatal abortion at Midtown Hospital in Atlanta. Midtown was a National Abortion Federation member facility that experienced numerous scandals pertaining to illegal late abortions and filthy, chaotic conditions. Jacqueline Reynolds died after an abortion at Grady Memorial in Atlanta. Allegra Roserberry's fatal abortion was performed at Emory Hospital in Atlanta.
Friday, September 26, 2008
More Born-Alive Babies and Their Fates
I'm going through my e-files for stories of what happens to babies who are born alive during abortions. I'm just doing a search for "baby" and cleaning up my notes for your edification. When you read these cases, keep Barack Obama's words in mind:
(If you want to post the video on your web site, there's a button at the top of the video screen that gives you the embed code.)
Occasionally instead of a normal source you'll see a code. That's so that when I drag my files down out of the attic I can look and see the document in question and fill in what it is.
An August 2, 1981 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer said that in July of 1979, Dr. Boyd Cooper performed an abortion at 23 weeks at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The 1 lb 2 oz infant boy gasped and tried to breathe. No efforts were made to revive the infant due to the parents' wishes and the infant's size. The baby was placed in a utility room used as an infant morgue. Cooper instructed nurse, "Leave the baby there -- it will die." The nurse testified that the baby was still gasping in the closet when she returned to work 12 hours later. Cooper then finally agreed to allow the baby to be transferred to intensive care, where he died 4 days later. Despite having left the child gasping, cold and alone, in a morgue for over twelve hours, the baby's death was ruled accidental.
Dr. Joseph Durante was put on probation for five years Sept. 3, 1996, over case where a baby survived an abortion at San Diego Womancare. Durante was fined $14,000. (M29, M207) There was also an incident in 1980, when Baby Boy Sanchez was supposedly born alive at Indio Community Hospital, I’d guess after an abortion. Durante had announced that the baby was dead, and had the body incinerated. (M207) Also: Melisha W., age 17, underwent an abortion by Joseph Durante at Womancare on March 7, 1992. Durante did not follow standard exam procedures or use an ultrasound. He estimated that Melisha was 11-12 weeks pregnant, but during the abortion he discovered that the fetus was much larger than he expected. Only then did Durante perform an ultrasound, which revealed a 25-26 week fetus. Durante gave Melisha painkillers and referred her to a facility specializing in late abortions. Melisha's mother instead took her to Kaiser medical center, where infant Victoria G. was born weighing 1 lb 13 oz. The baby suffered physical and cognitive disabilities. (Why Would Planned Parenthood Bother?)
The Edelin case is fairly well-known. Dr. Kenneth Edelin, a member of the National Abortion Federation's Standards Committee, had been convicted for manslaughter in the case of an infant boy aborted by hysterotomy (a c-section in which you intend for fetal death rather than live birth) in 1973 at Boston City Hospital. Edelin had estimated fetal age a 20-22 weeks pre-abortion. Witnesses said Edelin smothered the baby, and the prosecution held that at 1 lb 8 oz, the infant was viable. The prosecution also said that a right to abortion constituted a right to terminate a pregnancy, not a right to a dead baby. The defense contended that the death of the baby -- okay, they said fetus -- is a desired and foregone conclusion in such cases. Edelin's conviction was overturned on the grounds that the jury had been improperly instructed. Edelin later became national chairman of Planned Parenthood. (Omaha World-Herald 10-19-79; Philadelphia Inquirer 8-2-81; also cited in Orange County Superior Court Case No. C-37815)
Dr. Gordon Sean Goei was arrested on March 19, 1998, on suspicion of murdering a 26-week preemie born live during an abortion Goei had performed six days after his license had been suspended for failing to pass a competency exam. The charge was reduced to practicing medicine without a license and illegally performing an abortion. The fetus had been found in a trash bag at Centro Mexico Family Planning Clinic. The mother was age 42. She had been rushed to a hospital for severe bleeding, and the police found had found the baby's mutilated body in a dumpster. The baby's death was ruled a homicide due to “blunt force trauma.” Later reports placed the baby's age as 30-32 weeks. Goei's license had been revoked in 1995, but the revocation was overturned by order of an Administrative Law judge because although the Medical Board had sent two letters by surface mail, and another two by registered mail, Goei hadn’t gotten the letters. A witness for Goei said that he had opened the letters, felt sorry for Goei, and hidden them. ((M20, M195, M196, M197, M199, M200)
Dr. Joseph Melnick was convicted of infanticide and unlawful abortion after the death of 32-week infant girl (3 lb, 9 oz) born during an abortion Melnick performed on a 13-year-old girl at what was then West Park Hospital, Philadelphia, in 1984. The nursing supervisor testified that "Baby Girl Smith" showed signs of life and gasped and moaned following the abortion, others in the room pointed out infant's condition and requested that Melnick aid the infant. The nursing supervisor attempted CPR on the baby, detecting a heartbeat. She found a death certificate filled out by Melnick stating that the infant was stillborn. She tore up the death certificate, whereupon Mewlnick filled out a birth certificate for the infant. Another doctor ordered resuscitation, but the baby died after 90 minutes. Melnick indicated on medical records that he observed "agonal breathing" in the infant, which he defined for the judge as "It's the last effort a human being makes to sustain life." After the judge asked him three times he admitted that agonal breathing would not be observed in a stillborn infant. An autopsy found that the infant had a full head of hair, and skin typical of a term infant. Melnick allegedly admitted, "After the fact, it occurred to me that I had miscalculated." He also admitted that when the patient insisted that she was four months pregnant, Melnick noted the size of the infant and told her "if that's true, your baby would have been 18 pounds at birth." Melnick's defense claimed that the prosecution was based on "frustration raised over the abortion issue" rather than the evidence, and that a conviction would have "chilling effect" on other doctors' willinglness to perform abortions. (LA Times Magazine 1-7-90; Houston Chronicle 6-13-89; United Press International 10-3-84; Associated Press 3-16-89, 5-13-89, 6-12-89, 12-20-89)
Dr. Raymond Showery was found guilty in 1983 of the 1979 murder of a 5-7 month baby aborted by hysterotomy (cutting the mother open and taking the baby out to die). Five of his employees testified that the infant girl had light brown hair, was about a foot long, and curled up in Showery's hand. One employee saw the infant apparently attempting to breathe as Showery held the placenta over her face. Showery then dropped her into a bucket of water. His employees testified that bubbles rose to the surface. Showery then put the baby in a plastic bag which was tied and put at the end of the operating room. The bag moved as though someone were breathing in it, then the bag stopped moving. One witness said he was holding the bag as Showery put the infant in, and that he later put the bag in the freezer where fetuses were stored. Showery was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison even though the body of the infant was never found and employees could not identify the patient upon whom the abortion was performed. The jury chose to convict for murder even though they had the option of convicting for manslaughter. A news report said that Showery, "his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes," denied all the allegations. "I never killed a baby," Showery said, "and if I'm not telling you the truth, may I die right now." Showery had also been convicted of a felony charge of altering his hospital's records, which hindered the state's attempts to locate the woman. The former employees alleged that Showery falsified records on all patients over 20 weeks pregnant, saying they were all exactly 20 weeks pregnant, and that such abortions were routine. One former employee, Gloria, said she assisted in abortions in which Showery would sedate the patient, dilate the cervix, and pull the fetus out with forceps. "He wanted them in pieces, but a lot of times they would come out whole." She said that she saw signs of life in at least two fetuses aborted this way. Another former employee, Belinda, said she looked away as Showery removed a fetus through a hysterotomy incision, and that when she turned back Showery had placed the fetus in a plastic bag within a bucket "and just waited until it stopped moving." She said the fetus squirmed and wiggled for about 10 seconds. Former employee Anita alleged that for late abortions, "He walks in, closes the door, and locks it." She also said Showery instructed them, "If you see any movement or anything, you don't see anything, you don't know anything," and that he always asked employees to look away when the fetus was extracted. A former employee said the fetuses would be put in plastic bags and frozen, that employees did not know what became them but that someone removed them from the freezer. An autopsy on a male fetus identified as Baby John Doe #81-01, found among other fetuses in the freezer at Showery's hospital, was inconclusive as to whether he was born live due to decomposition during thawing. The fetus was just over 2 pounds, just over 13 inches long, with sparse dark hair; the autopsy also found meconium, usually found in the intestine of full-term fetuses. Showery denied ever performing abortions after 20 weeks, and is quoted as saying, "If that baby takes a breath, that's life. Now the department of vital statistics comes into it and you fill out death certificates. It cried once. It took life. It took breath. It becomes a person. You cannot dispose of it with hospital wastage. It must go to the mortician and et cetera." Family Hospital was not known to have ever filed fetal death certificates. While out on bail pending appeal of the murder conviction, Showery performed the fatal abortion on Mickey Apodaca. (New York Times 4-29-84; DesMoines Register 5-5-84; El Paso County Offense Report No. 00-380101, Houston Chronicle 6-9-85; El Paso Times 9-22-83, 9-23-83, April 5-8, 1981; Dallas Morning News 4-20-84, Dallas Times-Herald 9-29-83)
The woman in the following case never consented to an abortion, but I'll include it because I think it illustrates the attitude some abortionists have toward infants. Carmen H., age 36, reported that in 1983 she was 8 months pregnant to Dr. Pravin Thakkar, who had seduced her when she was his patient. He gave her drugs while she was at his house, knocking her out. She briefly awoke to hear the muffled sound of a baby's cry. Thakkar told her the baby was still-born while she was unconscious. She did not consent to terminate the pregnancy. No death certificate was filed for the fetus. Thacker was convicted in the baby's death. (Tyler Morning Telegraph 6-12-91, 6-13-91; Associated Press 2-9-89)
I have this mysterious note: Baby Roe survived Allred abortion saline, born 7 PM, kept 7 hours, sent to USC medical center, died next day 10 AM. ()
Ohio State University Hospital faced a lawsuit filed by Joseph M. He said his infant girl was alive when expelled during an abortion performed on Joseph's wife, Peggy, on September 9, 1981. Joseph faulted staff Debra Clapp and Mervyn Samuel with failure to take measures to preserve the child's life, resulting in her death. The baby was estimated to be of 20 weeks gestation, and sent to the pathology lab with permission of her mother, and destroyed before Joseph could request an autopsy. Defendants contended that the baby was nonviable and therefore by definition dead upon delivery. Joseph's case was dismissed. (Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 83CV-09-5231)
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
(If you want to post the video on your web site, there's a button at the top of the video screen that gives you the embed code.)
Occasionally instead of a normal source you'll see a code. That's so that when I drag my files down out of the attic I can look and see the document in question and fill in what it is.
An August 2, 1981 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer said that in July of 1979, Dr. Boyd Cooper performed an abortion at 23 weeks at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The 1 lb 2 oz infant boy gasped and tried to breathe. No efforts were made to revive the infant due to the parents' wishes and the infant's size. The baby was placed in a utility room used as an infant morgue. Cooper instructed nurse, "Leave the baby there -- it will die." The nurse testified that the baby was still gasping in the closet when she returned to work 12 hours later. Cooper then finally agreed to allow the baby to be transferred to intensive care, where he died 4 days later. Despite having left the child gasping, cold and alone, in a morgue for over twelve hours, the baby's death was ruled accidental.
Dr. Joseph Durante was put on probation for five years Sept. 3, 1996, over case where a baby survived an abortion at San Diego Womancare. Durante was fined $14,000. (M29, M207) There was also an incident in 1980, when Baby Boy Sanchez was supposedly born alive at Indio Community Hospital, I’d guess after an abortion. Durante had announced that the baby was dead, and had the body incinerated. (M207) Also: Melisha W., age 17, underwent an abortion by Joseph Durante at Womancare on March 7, 1992. Durante did not follow standard exam procedures or use an ultrasound. He estimated that Melisha was 11-12 weeks pregnant, but during the abortion he discovered that the fetus was much larger than he expected. Only then did Durante perform an ultrasound, which revealed a 25-26 week fetus. Durante gave Melisha painkillers and referred her to a facility specializing in late abortions. Melisha's mother instead took her to Kaiser medical center, where infant Victoria G. was born weighing 1 lb 13 oz. The baby suffered physical and cognitive disabilities. (Why Would Planned Parenthood Bother?)
The Edelin case is fairly well-known. Dr. Kenneth Edelin, a member of the National Abortion Federation's Standards Committee, had been convicted for manslaughter in the case of an infant boy aborted by hysterotomy (a c-section in which you intend for fetal death rather than live birth) in 1973 at Boston City Hospital. Edelin had estimated fetal age a 20-22 weeks pre-abortion. Witnesses said Edelin smothered the baby, and the prosecution held that at 1 lb 8 oz, the infant was viable. The prosecution also said that a right to abortion constituted a right to terminate a pregnancy, not a right to a dead baby. The defense contended that the death of the baby -- okay, they said fetus -- is a desired and foregone conclusion in such cases. Edelin's conviction was overturned on the grounds that the jury had been improperly instructed. Edelin later became national chairman of Planned Parenthood. (Omaha World-Herald 10-19-79; Philadelphia Inquirer 8-2-81; also cited in Orange County Superior Court Case No. C-37815)
Dr. Gordon Sean Goei was arrested on March 19, 1998, on suspicion of murdering a 26-week preemie born live during an abortion Goei had performed six days after his license had been suspended for failing to pass a competency exam. The charge was reduced to practicing medicine without a license and illegally performing an abortion. The fetus had been found in a trash bag at Centro Mexico Family Planning Clinic. The mother was age 42. She had been rushed to a hospital for severe bleeding, and the police found had found the baby's mutilated body in a dumpster. The baby's death was ruled a homicide due to “blunt force trauma.” Later reports placed the baby's age as 30-32 weeks. Goei's license had been revoked in 1995, but the revocation was overturned by order of an Administrative Law judge because although the Medical Board had sent two letters by surface mail, and another two by registered mail, Goei hadn’t gotten the letters. A witness for Goei said that he had opened the letters, felt sorry for Goei, and hidden them. ((M20, M195, M196, M197, M199, M200)
Dr. Joseph Melnick was convicted of infanticide and unlawful abortion after the death of 32-week infant girl (3 lb, 9 oz) born during an abortion Melnick performed on a 13-year-old girl at what was then West Park Hospital, Philadelphia, in 1984. The nursing supervisor testified that "Baby Girl Smith" showed signs of life and gasped and moaned following the abortion, others in the room pointed out infant's condition and requested that Melnick aid the infant. The nursing supervisor attempted CPR on the baby, detecting a heartbeat. She found a death certificate filled out by Melnick stating that the infant was stillborn. She tore up the death certificate, whereupon Mewlnick filled out a birth certificate for the infant. Another doctor ordered resuscitation, but the baby died after 90 minutes. Melnick indicated on medical records that he observed "agonal breathing" in the infant, which he defined for the judge as "It's the last effort a human being makes to sustain life." After the judge asked him three times he admitted that agonal breathing would not be observed in a stillborn infant. An autopsy found that the infant had a full head of hair, and skin typical of a term infant. Melnick allegedly admitted, "After the fact, it occurred to me that I had miscalculated." He also admitted that when the patient insisted that she was four months pregnant, Melnick noted the size of the infant and told her "if that's true, your baby would have been 18 pounds at birth." Melnick's defense claimed that the prosecution was based on "frustration raised over the abortion issue" rather than the evidence, and that a conviction would have "chilling effect" on other doctors' willinglness to perform abortions. (LA Times Magazine 1-7-90; Houston Chronicle 6-13-89; United Press International 10-3-84; Associated Press 3-16-89, 5-13-89, 6-12-89, 12-20-89)
Dr. Raymond Showery was found guilty in 1983 of the 1979 murder of a 5-7 month baby aborted by hysterotomy (cutting the mother open and taking the baby out to die). Five of his employees testified that the infant girl had light brown hair, was about a foot long, and curled up in Showery's hand. One employee saw the infant apparently attempting to breathe as Showery held the placenta over her face. Showery then dropped her into a bucket of water. His employees testified that bubbles rose to the surface. Showery then put the baby in a plastic bag which was tied and put at the end of the operating room. The bag moved as though someone were breathing in it, then the bag stopped moving. One witness said he was holding the bag as Showery put the infant in, and that he later put the bag in the freezer where fetuses were stored. Showery was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison even though the body of the infant was never found and employees could not identify the patient upon whom the abortion was performed. The jury chose to convict for murder even though they had the option of convicting for manslaughter. A news report said that Showery, "his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes," denied all the allegations. "I never killed a baby," Showery said, "and if I'm not telling you the truth, may I die right now." Showery had also been convicted of a felony charge of altering his hospital's records, which hindered the state's attempts to locate the woman. The former employees alleged that Showery falsified records on all patients over 20 weeks pregnant, saying they were all exactly 20 weeks pregnant, and that such abortions were routine. One former employee, Gloria, said she assisted in abortions in which Showery would sedate the patient, dilate the cervix, and pull the fetus out with forceps. "He wanted them in pieces, but a lot of times they would come out whole." She said that she saw signs of life in at least two fetuses aborted this way. Another former employee, Belinda, said she looked away as Showery removed a fetus through a hysterotomy incision, and that when she turned back Showery had placed the fetus in a plastic bag within a bucket "and just waited until it stopped moving." She said the fetus squirmed and wiggled for about 10 seconds. Former employee Anita alleged that for late abortions, "He walks in, closes the door, and locks it." She also said Showery instructed them, "If you see any movement or anything, you don't see anything, you don't know anything," and that he always asked employees to look away when the fetus was extracted. A former employee said the fetuses would be put in plastic bags and frozen, that employees did not know what became them but that someone removed them from the freezer. An autopsy on a male fetus identified as Baby John Doe #81-01, found among other fetuses in the freezer at Showery's hospital, was inconclusive as to whether he was born live due to decomposition during thawing. The fetus was just over 2 pounds, just over 13 inches long, with sparse dark hair; the autopsy also found meconium, usually found in the intestine of full-term fetuses. Showery denied ever performing abortions after 20 weeks, and is quoted as saying, "If that baby takes a breath, that's life. Now the department of vital statistics comes into it and you fill out death certificates. It cried once. It took life. It took breath. It becomes a person. You cannot dispose of it with hospital wastage. It must go to the mortician and et cetera." Family Hospital was not known to have ever filed fetal death certificates. While out on bail pending appeal of the murder conviction, Showery performed the fatal abortion on Mickey Apodaca. (New York Times 4-29-84; DesMoines Register 5-5-84; El Paso County Offense Report No. 00-380101, Houston Chronicle 6-9-85; El Paso Times 9-22-83, 9-23-83, April 5-8, 1981; Dallas Morning News 4-20-84, Dallas Times-Herald 9-29-83)
The woman in the following case never consented to an abortion, but I'll include it because I think it illustrates the attitude some abortionists have toward infants. Carmen H., age 36, reported that in 1983 she was 8 months pregnant to Dr. Pravin Thakkar, who had seduced her when she was his patient. He gave her drugs while she was at his house, knocking her out. She briefly awoke to hear the muffled sound of a baby's cry. Thakkar told her the baby was still-born while she was unconscious. She did not consent to terminate the pregnancy. No death certificate was filed for the fetus. Thacker was convicted in the baby's death. (Tyler Morning Telegraph 6-12-91, 6-13-91; Associated Press 2-9-89)
I have this mysterious note: Baby Roe survived Allred abortion saline, born 7 PM, kept 7 hours, sent to USC medical center, died next day 10 AM. ()
Ohio State University Hospital faced a lawsuit filed by Joseph M. He said his infant girl was alive when expelled during an abortion performed on Joseph's wife, Peggy, on September 9, 1981. Joseph faulted staff Debra Clapp and Mervyn Samuel with failure to take measures to preserve the child's life, resulting in her death. The baby was estimated to be of 20 weeks gestation, and sent to the pathology lab with permission of her mother, and destroyed before Joseph could request an autopsy. Defendants contended that the baby was nonviable and therefore by definition dead upon delivery. Joseph's case was dismissed. (Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 83CV-09-5231)
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1990: Butcher of Avenue A leaves teen mom dead
On September 26, 1990, 17-year-old Sophie McCoy died in a New York hospital, leaving a one-year-old son motherless.
The events that led to her death started on September 17, when Sophie went to the office of National Abortion Federation member Abu Hayat. She was accompanied by her mother and by the husband of the operator of a facility identified as "the Willoughby Avenue Clinic." She had been referred to him, but medical board documents do not say by whom.
Sophe and her mother returned to Hayat's office the next day and paid $300 for the safe, legal abortion. Sophie was given intravenous medications which put her to sleep. She was kept about four hours and discharged with another prescription for antibiotics.
That evening, Sophie was bleeding, had abdominal pain, and was having trouble breathing.
The next day, September 19, she was taken to a hospital, reporting vaginal bleeding, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Dr. Harding, who treated her, discovered that Sophie had a perforated uterus and serious sepsis. An emergency hysterectomy was performed, but Sophie developed disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) and septic shock, which killed her.
After Sophie's death, Hayat originally denied having treated her at all. But Sophie's mother identified Hayat by name and from a photograph.
While continuing to deny having treated Sophie, Hayat told one of the physicians who had tried to save her life that she had expelled a fetus at home and come to him for treatment, whereupon he'd sent her to the hospital.
But Margie, an employee of his, recognized Sophie from a photo and said that Hayat had indeed treated the girl on two occasions. Margie added that after the second visit, Sophie's mother had called, hysterical and crying. Margie further said that she had seen medical records for Sophie at the facility, and that Hayat had argued with the referring clinic about payments for Sophie's treatment.
The case was reported to the district attorney and the New York Health Department, but nobody took any action against Hayat until he pulled the arm off Ana Rosa Rodriguez during an abortion attempt in 1991.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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The events that led to her death started on September 17, when Sophie went to the office of National Abortion Federation member Abu Hayat. She was accompanied by her mother and by the husband of the operator of a facility identified as "the Willoughby Avenue Clinic." She had been referred to him, but medical board documents do not say by whom.
Sophe and her mother returned to Hayat's office the next day and paid $300 for the safe, legal abortion. Sophie was given intravenous medications which put her to sleep. She was kept about four hours and discharged with another prescription for antibiotics.
That evening, Sophie was bleeding, had abdominal pain, and was having trouble breathing.
The next day, September 19, she was taken to a hospital, reporting vaginal bleeding, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Dr. Harding, who treated her, discovered that Sophie had a perforated uterus and serious sepsis. An emergency hysterectomy was performed, but Sophie developed disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) and septic shock, which killed her.
After Sophie's death, Hayat originally denied having treated her at all. But Sophie's mother identified Hayat by name and from a photograph.
While continuing to deny having treated Sophie, Hayat told one of the physicians who had tried to save her life that she had expelled a fetus at home and come to him for treatment, whereupon he'd sent her to the hospital.
But Margie, an employee of his, recognized Sophie from a photo and said that Hayat had indeed treated the girl on two occasions. Margie added that after the second visit, Sophie's mother had called, hysterical and crying. Margie further said that she had seen medical records for Sophie at the facility, and that Hayat had argued with the referring clinic about payments for Sophie's treatment.The case was reported to the district attorney and the New York Health Department, but nobody took any action against Hayat until he pulled the arm off Ana Rosa Rodriguez during an abortion attempt in 1991.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Beautiful Down syndrome montage
I know it's a rerun, but with Trig Palin in the news lately it's nice to remember that Sarah isn't the only proud mom of a kid with designer genes.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Search: Abortions for health reasons
First of all, they're rare. A Planned Parenthood study of why women have abortions found that a total of 7% of all aborting women reported choosing abortion because of concerns for their own health, or concerns that the baby had health or disability issues. Even later abortions are rarely done for health reasons.
Keep in mind, first of all, that these are women's self-reported reasons, not reasons that were verified by a physician's diagnosis:
There is no breakdown of maternal health concerns versus fetal indications, and no breakdown of whether a physician had recommended an abortion or the woman had just chosen to check "health" on the survey box because she was thinking, "I'm too old for this."
You can really break "health of the mother" abortions down into three categories:
1. The woman self-refers for reasons that can range from trivial to the wretched nightmare of hyperemesis gravidarum. I've never seen any evidence that abortion facilities do any screening of these women to verify their perceptions that abortion would ease their health concerns.
2. The woman is referred by a doctor who is either ignorant, lying, or lazy. She might have actual health problems that he either doesn't want to deal with or doesn't know how to deal with. She might have social issues, or a prenatal diagnosis, that the doctor thinks calls for an abortion, and he'll say whatever it takes to get her to consent.
3. The woman actually has one of those rare pregnancies that actually is a danger to her life.
If there's interest in the topic, I'll expand this post. Right now it's late and I'm not feeling up to it.
Keep in mind, first of all, that these are women's self-reported reasons, not reasons that were verified by a physician's diagnosis:
Women who felt that their fetus's health had been compromised cited concerns such as a lack of prenatal care, the risk of birth defects due to advanced maternal age, a history of miscarriages, maternal cocaine use and fetal exposure to prescription medications. Concerns about personal health included chronic and life-threatening conditions such as depression, advanced maternal age and toxemia.
There is no breakdown of maternal health concerns versus fetal indications, and no breakdown of whether a physician had recommended an abortion or the woman had just chosen to check "health" on the survey box because she was thinking, "I'm too old for this."
You can really break "health of the mother" abortions down into three categories:
1. The woman self-refers for reasons that can range from trivial to the wretched nightmare of hyperemesis gravidarum. I've never seen any evidence that abortion facilities do any screening of these women to verify their perceptions that abortion would ease their health concerns.
2. The woman is referred by a doctor who is either ignorant, lying, or lazy. She might have actual health problems that he either doesn't want to deal with or doesn't know how to deal with. She might have social issues, or a prenatal diagnosis, that the doctor thinks calls for an abortion, and he'll say whatever it takes to get her to consent.
3. The woman actually has one of those rare pregnancies that actually is a danger to her life.
If there's interest in the topic, I'll expand this post. Right now it's late and I'm not feeling up to it.
Obama, Babies and the Benefit of the Doubt
There's often a world of difference between intent and effect. It's referred to as "The law of unintended consequences." And while it's plain to many people that Obama's vote against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act had the effect of fostering infanticide, we can't know that this was Obama's intent.
He might simply have taken at face value things his friends at NOW, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood have told him. Many of us in the prolife movement can remember foregone times when we trusted one or more of those organizations. Many prochoicers still do trust them.
So, let's give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt here. I'm going to do a multi-post feature looking at Obama's statements and assessing them in a charitable light.
He makes the point that when a baby is born alive during an abortion, a doctor has already "made that assessment" -- presumably that the baby in question isn't "viable" -- that is, able to survive outside the womb. But if the baby is born alive, the doctor in question has already established in a pretty palpable way that his clinical judgment isn't all it's cracked up to be. He already thought the baby wouldn't survive the abortion process. Now are we to trust him to judge the baby's chance of survival when she's already proved to be much more tenacious of life than he expected?
Obama indicates that it's somehow just burdensome to bring a second doctor in, after the abortion doctor has made his assessment: an assessment that has been proved to be flawed.
As if doctors are all the same. As if a second opinion is never called for.
Imagine for a moment that your wife, daughter, or sister is in a car crash. She's brought into the emergency room with a serious head injury. A doctor examines her, tells you that there is no hope, and hands you papers for organ donation.
This doctor is telling you that your loved one's brain injury is fatal. If that doctor is a neurosurgeon, how much would you trust the assessment? What if the doctor isn't a neurosurgen, but an ob/gyn? Would you want him making that call?
Probably not. He might be the best ob/gyn in the world, but brain surgery is tricky business. You'd want a specialist, somebody with experience assessing patients with brain injuries.
Some areas of medicine are fairly simple, and don't really require a specialist. Probably just about any doctor can set a simple fracture, drain an abscessed toenail, or treat your poison ivy. But for a brain injury, you're rightly going to want a specialist, with intensive specialized training and extensive specialized experience. The same goes with preemies -- especially the micropreemies that can be expected in an abortion-triggered birth. These tiny babies are not easy to assess and care for. They require a very high level of skill and clinical judgment. Only neonatologists are qualified to assess and care for them.
The doctor making the initial assessment in an abortion is likely an ob/gyn, though he might be a psychiatrist or dermatologist or ENT. There's no requirement that abortions be performed by ob/gyns. But let's for the sake of argument assume that he is an ob/gyn.
Ob/gyns who are providing care to women who don't intend to abort routinely concede that assessing and caring for critically ill, premature, or injured babies isn't their speciality. They have sense enough, when the mother loves and wants her baby, to call in an expert to make an expert assessment.
But Obama is asserting that in the case of an infant born during an abortion, the usual standard of care -- to have a neonatologist assess the premature and/or injured baby -- suddenly doesn't apply. In abortion cases, and abortion cases alone, Obama asserts, the ob/gyn's skill is adequate to assess and care for that baby.
But to reiterate, the ob/gyn in question has already shown poor clinical judgment in his own specialty by trying to abort a baby strong enough to survive the procedure.
Obama isn't necessarily endorsing infanticide of babies born during abortions. He might not even have thought through the fact that he's stating that a lesser standard of care is adequate. It might simply never have occurred to him that a premature baby needs a neonatologist, not an obstetrician.
It doesn't show murderous intent. But it shows poor judgment and lack of reasoning. And it still leaves babies in the lurch if they're born after an abortion.
He might simply have taken at face value things his friends at NOW, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood have told him. Many of us in the prolife movement can remember foregone times when we trusted one or more of those organizations. Many prochoicers still do trust them.
So, let's give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt here. I'm going to do a multi-post feature looking at Obama's statements and assessing them in a charitable light.
He makes the point that when a baby is born alive during an abortion, a doctor has already "made that assessment" -- presumably that the baby in question isn't "viable" -- that is, able to survive outside the womb. But if the baby is born alive, the doctor in question has already established in a pretty palpable way that his clinical judgment isn't all it's cracked up to be. He already thought the baby wouldn't survive the abortion process. Now are we to trust him to judge the baby's chance of survival when she's already proved to be much more tenacious of life than he expected?
Obama indicates that it's somehow just burdensome to bring a second doctor in, after the abortion doctor has made his assessment: an assessment that has been proved to be flawed.
As if doctors are all the same. As if a second opinion is never called for.
Imagine for a moment that your wife, daughter, or sister is in a car crash. She's brought into the emergency room with a serious head injury. A doctor examines her, tells you that there is no hope, and hands you papers for organ donation.
This doctor is telling you that your loved one's brain injury is fatal. If that doctor is a neurosurgeon, how much would you trust the assessment? What if the doctor isn't a neurosurgen, but an ob/gyn? Would you want him making that call?
Probably not. He might be the best ob/gyn in the world, but brain surgery is tricky business. You'd want a specialist, somebody with experience assessing patients with brain injuries.
Some areas of medicine are fairly simple, and don't really require a specialist. Probably just about any doctor can set a simple fracture, drain an abscessed toenail, or treat your poison ivy. But for a brain injury, you're rightly going to want a specialist, with intensive specialized training and extensive specialized experience. The same goes with preemies -- especially the micropreemies that can be expected in an abortion-triggered birth. These tiny babies are not easy to assess and care for. They require a very high level of skill and clinical judgment. Only neonatologists are qualified to assess and care for them.
The doctor making the initial assessment in an abortion is likely an ob/gyn, though he might be a psychiatrist or dermatologist or ENT. There's no requirement that abortions be performed by ob/gyns. But let's for the sake of argument assume that he is an ob/gyn.
Ob/gyns who are providing care to women who don't intend to abort routinely concede that assessing and caring for critically ill, premature, or injured babies isn't their speciality. They have sense enough, when the mother loves and wants her baby, to call in an expert to make an expert assessment.
But Obama is asserting that in the case of an infant born during an abortion, the usual standard of care -- to have a neonatologist assess the premature and/or injured baby -- suddenly doesn't apply. In abortion cases, and abortion cases alone, Obama asserts, the ob/gyn's skill is adequate to assess and care for that baby.
But to reiterate, the ob/gyn in question has already shown poor clinical judgment in his own specialty by trying to abort a baby strong enough to survive the procedure.
Obama isn't necessarily endorsing infanticide of babies born during abortions. He might not even have thought through the fact that he's stating that a lesser standard of care is adequate. It might simply never have occurred to him that a premature baby needs a neonatologist, not an obstetrician.
It doesn't show murderous intent. But it shows poor judgment and lack of reasoning. And it still leaves babies in the lurch if they're born after an abortion.
A grain of rice
I had an abortion:
She was "six weeks pregnant". Which typically means six weeks past her last menstrual period, with an embryo four weeks old. If so, Planned Parenthood was technically not too far off in describing it as "the size of a grain of rice": a four-week embryo is indeed about as long as a grain of rice, but it's no more "the size of a grain of rice" than any two people the same height are also "the same size".
And does size matter that much? Does being tiny make it okay to kill you? Thumbelina would find few protectors, it seems, in the prochoice movement.
"Six weeks pregnant." Four weeks into life:
Somebody who was never given a chance. Whose mother feels ashamed not for having snuffed him, but because other women have to go to more trouble to cut off every chance at life for their own children.
And that's sad.
What's really the size of a grain of rice, it seems, is the conscience.
HT: JJ
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I know that I writhed in my twin bed, suffering from debilitating, convulsing cramps. My roommates, best friend, and boyfriend hovered around; they brought me pain killers, Tiger Balm, hot-water bottles, and applesauce, and all the while they stroked my head and conferenced in the background about how I was doing. I bled profusely as my body rejected the fetus that had been described to me as “the size of a grain of rice.” I threw up. And finally, I fell asleep.
She was "six weeks pregnant". Which typically means six weeks past her last menstrual period, with an embryo four weeks old. If so, Planned Parenthood was technically not too far off in describing it as "the size of a grain of rice": a four-week embryo is indeed about as long as a grain of rice, but it's no more "the size of a grain of rice" than any two people the same height are also "the same size".
And does size matter that much? Does being tiny make it okay to kill you? Thumbelina would find few protectors, it seems, in the prochoice movement.
"Six weeks pregnant." Four weeks into life:
Brain is well marked by its cerebral hemispheres. The hindbrain, which is responsible for heart regulation, breathing and muscle movements, begins to develop.
....
External retina pigment is visible ....
Primary cardiac tube separates into aortic and pulmonary channels and the ventricular pouches deepen and enlarge, forming a common wall with their myocardial shells.
The mesentery, which attaches the intestines to the rear abdominal wall, holds them in position and supplies them with blood, nerves and lymphatics, is now clearly defined. Ureter, the tube that will convey urine from the kidney to the bladder, continues to lengthen.
Hand region of upper limb bud differentiates further to form a central carpal part and a digital plate. The thigh ..., leg ... and foot areas can be distinguished in the lower limb buds.
Somebody who was never given a chance. Whose mother feels ashamed not for having snuffed him, but because other women have to go to more trouble to cut off every chance at life for their own children.
And that's sad.
What's really the size of a grain of rice, it seems, is the conscience.
HT: JJ
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1925: Two physicians, one abortion, one dead woman
On September 25, 1925, Faye McGinnis, age 23, died at her home in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. The coroner identified two physicians, Walter Penningdorf and Walter Voight, as being responsible. They were arrested on September 25. Faye's husband, Roy McGinnis, was also arrested as an accomplice in his wife's death. The doctors were indicted for felony murder on October 15.
Faye's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-Roe abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Faye's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-Roe abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1986: "Therapeutic misadventure" during abortion kills California woman
Twenty-two-year-old Liliana Cortez underwent a safe and legal abortion by Leo Kenneally at his Her Medical Clinic in Los Angeles on September 20, 1986.
Other than having asthma, Liliana was in good health when she went for her abortion. After the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest. There was a 40-minute delay until the paramedics arrived to transport Liliana to a hospital. She died five days later.
Liliana's death was ruled a "therapeutic misadventure," which a coroner's spokesman called, "a nice medical term for a mistake."
An attorney for Her Medical Clinic said, "If something like this happened at a hospital ... people would just say it was bad luck, one of those flukey things. But ... all of a sudden they make it seem like these (abortion clinics) are terrible places where terrible things happen."
Other deaths I know about at Her Medical Clinic include Donna Heim and Michelle Thames.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Other than having asthma, Liliana was in good health when she went for her abortion. After the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest. There was a 40-minute delay until the paramedics arrived to transport Liliana to a hospital. She died five days later.
Liliana's death was ruled a "therapeutic misadventure," which a coroner's spokesman called, "a nice medical term for a mistake."
An attorney for Her Medical Clinic said, "If something like this happened at a hospital ... people would just say it was bad luck, one of those flukey things. But ... all of a sudden they make it seem like these (abortion clinics) are terrible places where terrible things happen."
Other deaths I know about at Her Medical Clinic include Donna Heim and Michelle Thames.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Abortion in the 1940s updated & other searches
A lot of searchers come looking for Abortion in the 1940s. I've added more deaths I've uncovered, with a bit of information indicating how reliable my source is and who was blamed for fatal abortions.
People were looking for abortionists Steve Lichtenberg (responsible for the death of 13-year-old Deanna Bell) and Abu Hayat (who ripped the arm off Ana Rosa Rodriguez (pictured) trying to abort her at 32 weeks). Abortionist John Baxter Hamilton's Valentine's Day murder of his wife remains a popular search.
The search for abortion videos still isn't taking people to the right post!
Folks wanted Kris Humphrey, who did herself in when trying to kill her baby with pennyroyal.
Others wanted Sandra Cano, who was "Jane Doe" in Doe vs. Bolton. Cano never wanted an abortion; she wanted custody of her kids in a messy divorce. But her lawyer slipped a document in for her to sign that ended up going to the Supreme Court and getting "health" defined so broadly with regard to abortion that heartburn, not wanting to get up to pee so often during your kid's Little League playoffs, or storm damage to your house would meet the test.
Somebody was looking for "abortion mentally disabled". Both Diane Boyd and Christin Gilbert (pictured) were mentally disabled 19-year-old rape victims brought for abortions by their families. Both died as a result.
Several similar searches brought folks here. Let me reiterate: There's no such thing as a self-induced miscarriage. If you're inducing it, it's an abortion. Though it may be either "self help" or self harm. And, in the same vein, searches for "coathanger abortions".
I have a post of abortion songs. Not the most upbeat bunch of ditties. Gosh, you'd think they would be! What's more liberating, and thus more worthy of joy and celebration, than an abortion?
Then there's 14 week abortion, 18 week fetus, and 20 week abortion.
Last but not least, deaths from abortions. All gathered in one place, with a handy search box. If you don't find what you're looking for, just ask.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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People were looking for abortionists Steve Lichtenberg (responsible for the death of 13-year-old Deanna Bell) and Abu Hayat (who ripped the arm off Ana Rosa Rodriguez (pictured) trying to abort her at 32 weeks). Abortionist John Baxter Hamilton's Valentine's Day murder of his wife remains a popular search.The search for abortion videos still isn't taking people to the right post!
Folks wanted Kris Humphrey, who did herself in when trying to kill her baby with pennyroyal.
Others wanted Sandra Cano, who was "Jane Doe" in Doe vs. Bolton. Cano never wanted an abortion; she wanted custody of her kids in a messy divorce. But her lawyer slipped a document in for her to sign that ended up going to the Supreme Court and getting "health" defined so broadly with regard to abortion that heartburn, not wanting to get up to pee so often during your kid's Little League playoffs, or storm damage to your house would meet the test.
Somebody was looking for "abortion mentally disabled". Both Diane Boyd and Christin Gilbert (pictured) were mentally disabled 19-year-old rape victims brought for abortions by their families. Both died as a result.Several similar searches brought folks here. Let me reiterate: There's no such thing as a self-induced miscarriage. If you're inducing it, it's an abortion. Though it may be either "self help" or self harm. And, in the same vein, searches for "coathanger abortions".
I have a post of abortion songs. Not the most upbeat bunch of ditties. Gosh, you'd think they would be! What's more liberating, and thus more worthy of joy and celebration, than an abortion?
Then there's 14 week abortion, 18 week fetus, and 20 week abortion.
Last but not least, deaths from abortions. All gathered in one place, with a handy search box. If you don't find what you're looking for, just ask.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
The real scoop on the Palin/Rape Kit brouhaha
Newsbusters covers the whole thing in great detail.
I had postulated that rape victims might have been sent bills but not pressed to pay them if their insurance companies didn't cover it.
Turns out that there was ONE rape in Wasilla during the time period between Palin becoming mayor and the state law going into effect (requiring local law enforcement to pick up the tab for rape kits). And that victim was not charged for her rape kit.
Another tempest in a teapot.
Repeat: Neither Palin herself, not the town of Wasilla on her behalf, billed any rape victim for a rape kit.
NEXT: Palin's overdue library books! And photographic proof that Todd Palin drove nearly 200 miles with one tire under-inflated! And this just in: Piper sometimes colors outside the lines!
I had postulated that rape victims might have been sent bills but not pressed to pay them if their insurance companies didn't cover it.
Turns out that there was ONE rape in Wasilla during the time period between Palin becoming mayor and the state law going into effect (requiring local law enforcement to pick up the tab for rape kits). And that victim was not charged for her rape kit.
Another tempest in a teapot.
Repeat: Neither Palin herself, not the town of Wasilla on her behalf, billed any rape victim for a rape kit.
NEXT: Palin's overdue library books! And photographic proof that Todd Palin drove nearly 200 miles with one tire under-inflated! And this just in: Piper sometimes colors outside the lines!
1927: Nurse held responsible for fatal Chicago abortion
On September 24, 1927, 35-year-old Martha Kohnke died in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day. A nurse. Emma Schultz, was held by the coroner on October 5.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Obama and the Born Alive Babies
Here is the script, for those who need it in print. I've added links to additional information.
If you want to post it on your web site, there's a button at the top of the video screen that gives you the embed code.
"I suspect that doctors feel that they would be under that obligation, that they would already be making these determinations, and that essentially adding an additional doctor who then has to be called in an emergency situation to come in and make these assessments is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion."
Barack Obama
Illinois Senate
April 4, 2002
Expressing his opposition to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act
"...adding an additional doctor..." was burdensome for Dr. William Baxter Waddill. Waddill had called in an additional doctor after Baby W was born alive during a saline abortion done at 32 weeks. The other doctor testified in court that he had seen Waddill strangle Baby W.
"We had a baby come out live from a saline abortion, and it can't live!"
"This baby won't stop breathing."
"I said, 'Why not just leave the baby alone?' He said, 'This baby can't live or it will be a big mess.'"
"...adding an additional doctor ... is really designed simply to burden the original decision ... to perform an abortion."
Ana Rosa Rodriguez was born alive after an attempted abortion at 32 weeks. Fortunately for her, her mother went to a hospital where an additional doctor delivered the baby ... minus the arm the abortionist had torn off.
"...adding an additional doctor ... to burden the original decision ... to perform an abortion."
Ximena Renearts was born alive after an abortion. She was shivering, whimpering, and gasping for breath. She was put in a bedpan and into a utility room and left to die. After a delay of over an hour, a nurse sent her for care. Ximena suffered from hypothermia and lack of oxygen. She was left quadriplegic, with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old.
Citizens demanded to know why no attempted murder charges were filed.
"[We are] in favor of giving women choices about their reproductive health."
"...adding an additional doctor ... to burden the original decision ... to perform an abortion."
Dr. Robert Bolognese did abortions at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.
"[I]t has been our policy to wrap the fetus in a towel. ... our attention is turned to the care of [the woman]... Once [she] is stable, the fetus is evaluated. Almost invariably all signs of life have ceased."
"...adding an additional doctor ... simply to burden the original decision ... to perform an abortion."
Rowan was born alive in an abortion clinic toilet. As soon as his mother saw him, she regretted her choice. She cried out again and again for clinic staff to call 911 for her baby. They refused to make the call.
The mother's friend called 911, but staff sent the ambulance away.
The staff didn't make any calls until Rowan had died.
They called the police -- to remove Rowan's hysterical mother from the building.
"...adding an additional doctor ... to burden the original decision ... to perform an abortion."
The CDC estimated that 500 babies are born alive during abortions every year.
For more information visit bornalivetruth.org
They make 'em tough in Alaska
"The one time H.R. 6107 got out of the Senate, President Bill Clinton vetoed it because it would take 10 years before it produced. That was 13 years ago."
U.S. Representative Don Young (R-AK) says we can produce oil out of ANWR in three years, and he backs up his talk. The Alaska pipeline took only 3 years before oil began flowing.
Searches: A motley assortment
Search: Dr. Cicero Coimbra
I mentioned Dr. Coimbra in a post about KOA, an organization of parents who found out what happens to "brain dead" transplant donors only after they had signed consent for their children's organs to be harvested.
In 1968, the "Harvard criteria" for determining brain death were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, under the title "A Definition of Irreversible Coma." The article was published without substantiating data. A conference was held in Rome reviewing the "Harvard criteria" and finding the criteria scientifically invalid.
From the KOA site:
See also: Just how dead does an organ donor have to be?
In 1968, the "Harvard criteria" for determining brain death were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, under the title "A Definition of Irreversible Coma." The article was published without substantiating data. A conference was held in Rome reviewing the "Harvard criteria" and finding the criteria scientifically invalid.
From the KOA site:
In his presentation at the conference, Dr. Cicero Coimbra, a clinical neurologist from the Federal University of Sao Paolo, Brazil denounced the cruelty of the apnea test, in which mechanical respiratory support is withdrawn from the patient for up to 10 minutes, to determine whether he will begin breathing independently. This is part of the procedure before declaring a brain-injured patient "brain dead." Dr. Coimbra explained that this test significantly impairs the possible recovery of a brain-injured patient, and can even cause the death of the patients.
He argued:A large number of brain-injured patients, even in deep coma, can recover to lead a normal daily life; their nervous tissue may be only silent, not irreversibly damaged, as a consequence of a partial reduction of the blood supply to the brain. (This phenomenon, called "ischemic penumbra," was not known when the first neurological criteria for brain death were established 37 years ago.) However, the apnea test (considered the most important step for the diagnosis of "brain death" or brain-stem death) may induce irreversible intra-cranial circulatory collapse or even cardiac arrest, thereby preventing neurological recovery.
During the apnea test, the patients are prevented from expelling carbon dioxide (CO2), which becomes a poison to the heart as the blood CO2 concentration rises.
As a consequence of this procedure, the blood pressure drops, and the blood supply to the brain irreversibly ceases, thereby causing rather than diagnosing irreversible brain damage; by reducing the blood pressure, the "test" further reduces the blood supply to the respiratory centers in the brain, thereby preventing the patient from breathing during this procedure. (By breathing, the patient would demonstrate that he is alive.)
Irreversible cardiac arrest (death), cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and other life-threatening detrimental effects may also occur during the apnea test. Therefore, irreversible brain damage may occur during and before the end of the diagnostic procedures for “brain death.”
Dr. Coimbra concluded by saying that the apnea test should be considered unethical and declared illegal as an inhumane medical procedure. If family members were informed of the brutality and risk of the procedure, he stated, most of them would deny permission. He pointed out that when a heart attack patient is admitted to the emergency room he is never subjected to a stress test in order to verify that he is suffering from heart failure. Instead the patient is given special care and protection from further stress to the heart.
In contrast when a brain-injured patient is subjected to the apnea test, further stress is placed on the organ that has already been injured, and additional damage can endanger the patient’s life. Dr. Yoshio Watanabe a cardiologist from Nagoya, Japan, concurred, saying that if patients were not subjected to the apnea test, they could have a 60 percent chance of recovery to normal life if treated with timely therapeutic hypothermia.
See also: Just how dead does an organ donor have to be?
1971: Saline abortion proves fatal for Michigan woman
On September 23, 1971, 35-year-old "Barbara" died in a New York hospital, leaving five children motherless. The autopsy could find no anatomical cause of death. All that was known for certain is that she had traveled from Michigan to New York for an abortion. She had been 20 weeks pregnant. Within 24 hours of being injected with saline for the abortion, she went into convulsions, then her heart stopped, and all efforts to save her life failed.
Why did Barbara travel to New York for her abortion?
All abortions were illegal prior to 1973. Barbara had correctly guessed that it would be easier to arrange an illegal abortion in a big city like New York than anyplace closer to home.
Abortions were illegal in Michigan, but legal in New York, so Barbara had traveled to where she could obtain her abortion legally and safely.
Though abortions were legal, Barbara's pregnancy was so far advanced that she had to seek out a specialist in late abortions. The nearest one was in New York.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Why did Barbara travel to New York for her abortion?
All abortions were illegal prior to 1973. Barbara had correctly guessed that it would be easier to arrange an illegal abortion in a big city like New York than anyplace closer to home.
Abortions were illegal in Michigan, but legal in New York, so Barbara had traveled to where she could obtain her abortion legally and safely.
Though abortions were legal, Barbara's pregnancy was so far advanced that she had to seek out a specialist in late abortions. The nearest one was in New York.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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1899: Midwife performs fatal abortion in Chicago home
On September 23, 1899, Mary Kakacek died in her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed that day by midwife Annie Stonek. Stonek was held without bail by the Coroner's Jury.
Which was more common before legalization: For a woman to find a non-physician with medical training, such as a nurse or midwife, to perform her abortion? Or for a woman to rely on somebody with no medical training at all?
It was more common to find somebody who had some medical training.
It was more common for the woman to find somebody with no medical training at all.
Both scenarios were equally unusual.
Nobody knows for sure.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Which was more common before legalization: For a woman to find a non-physician with medical training, such as a nurse or midwife, to perform her abortion? Or for a woman to rely on somebody with no medical training at all?
It was more common to find somebody who had some medical training.
It was more common for the woman to find somebody with no medical training at all.
Both scenarios were equally unusual.
Nobody knows for sure.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1995: Abortion for Down syndrome kills baby, mother
Linda Boom, age 35, went to Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee for a safe, legal abortion on September 21, 1995.
Linda and her husband, Dennis Boom, had married in 1993 and planned to start a family. Linda learned that she was pregnant in June of 1995, but in September elected abortion because the fetus had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Linda's aunt had Down syndrome, which Linda believed meant "no life."
Fourth-year resident Karen S. Watson administered an amnioinfusion -- injecting chemicals into Linda's uterus. Linda reported pain and said she was "burning up all over." This is consistent with what a woman might experience during a botched saline abortion.
Watson's supervising physician, Daniel Gilman, injected more chemicals into Linda's uterus. Dennis Boom's attorney, Patrick Dunphy, said that the two injections caused the heart damage that killed Linda 36 hours after the first injection.
Watson did not use ultrasound to guide the needle injecting the poison, and apparently she injected the chemicals directly into Linda's bloodstream instead of into the amniotic sac.
The defense, of course, says that there was no negligence. Also, the hospital says that Gilman is responsible for Linda's death, because he performed the second injection and was supervising Watson. Gilman can't be named in the suit because the statute of limitations expired before Linda's husband filed.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Gilman "had performed more than 100 abortions." Watson has started an ob/gyn practice in Milwaukee.
News coverage of the case does not indicate why Watson and Gilman chose the antiquated instillation technique for Linda's abortion. Since the late 1960s, nations such as Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union had abandoned instillation abortions as being far too dangerous for the mother. US abortionists finally began abandoning the technique in the mid-1980s -- for logistical reasons, not to protect women's lives. Saline took too long, was typically performed in a hospital, and carried the risk of a live birth.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Linda and her husband, Dennis Boom, had married in 1993 and planned to start a family. Linda learned that she was pregnant in June of 1995, but in September elected abortion because the fetus had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Linda's aunt had Down syndrome, which Linda believed meant "no life."
Fourth-year resident Karen S. Watson administered an amnioinfusion -- injecting chemicals into Linda's uterus. Linda reported pain and said she was "burning up all over." This is consistent with what a woman might experience during a botched saline abortion.
Watson's supervising physician, Daniel Gilman, injected more chemicals into Linda's uterus. Dennis Boom's attorney, Patrick Dunphy, said that the two injections caused the heart damage that killed Linda 36 hours after the first injection.
Watson did not use ultrasound to guide the needle injecting the poison, and apparently she injected the chemicals directly into Linda's bloodstream instead of into the amniotic sac.
The defense, of course, says that there was no negligence. Also, the hospital says that Gilman is responsible for Linda's death, because he performed the second injection and was supervising Watson. Gilman can't be named in the suit because the statute of limitations expired before Linda's husband filed.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Gilman "had performed more than 100 abortions." Watson has started an ob/gyn practice in Milwaukee.
News coverage of the case does not indicate why Watson and Gilman chose the antiquated instillation technique for Linda's abortion. Since the late 1960s, nations such as Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union had abandoned instillation abortions as being far too dangerous for the mother. US abortionists finally began abandoning the technique in the mid-1980s -- for logistical reasons, not to protect women's lives. Saline took too long, was typically performed in a hospital, and carried the risk of a live birth.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
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