Today's Searches - mostly deaths

Vanessa Preston, the 22-year-old wife of a local minister, died in 1980 of complications of an abortion performed by National Abortion Federation member Curtis Boyd at his Fairmount Center in Dallas, Texas. (To his credit, Boyd and his staff did seem to have been prepared for an emergency, and to have responded appropriately, and he did try to warn other abortionists of the possibility of this happening to their patients.) Other Christian women and girls -- who in theory would know better and have a network to keep them from ending up as grist for the abortion mill -- who ended up dying from abortions include Marla Cardamone, Dawn Ravenelle, and most recently Laura Smith. Clearly the church is not effectively countering Screwtape's work on this. Going up against the Father of Lies, and against this massive propaganda juggernaut, armed only with a chastity pledge, "Abortion Stops a Beating Heart", and "God is Pro Life" is like going up against a Panzer division armed with a BB gun, a handful of cherry bombs, and a throwing star. The people who gain money and political power from these women have been disarming them, chewing them up, and spitting them out with a smug sneer on their lips by the millions. It's time we stopped letting them get away with it.

Somebody wanted to know where prolifers stand on the death penalty. Though statistically prolifers are more likely to oppose the death penalty than either prochoicers or the general public, individual results may vary. For myself, I'm not sure if you could more accurately describe me as opposing the death penalty except under certain very limited circumstances, or as supporting the death penalty but only under certain very limited circumstances. I think we should resort to it only when the perpetrator leaves us no other means of protecting others from his murderous impulses. That would be for murderers who remain an escape risk, murderers who either attempt or succeed in another killing in jail, and those who are capable of taking out hits from prison. In order to value all lives equally, we have to take out those who choose to remain a risk. Otherwise we are placing a greater value on their lives than on the lives of their victims. And really, when you get down to it, the two are apples and oranges. Show me an armed and aggressive fetus guilty of homicide, and I'll discuss the parallels.

Someone was searching for Emily Zall. She was one of the people who actually believed that supporting Planned Parenthood is supporting unbiased and accurate information for frightened women contemplating abortion. She signed a PP petition, adding "Government funded organizations must give accurate information." It would be lovely if Planned Parenthood was actually living up to Emily's expectations. Emily -- it was the unconscionable lies and malpractice Planned Parenthood perpetrated on my babysitter that pushed me off the fence into the prolife camp. I doubt that most decent people could know the kinds of thing this organization does and not want to see them shut down on the spot.

Janet Foster, 18 years old, died of a safe and legal septic abortion in California in 1971.

Someone wanted recent abortion pictures. Though they likely meant fetal remains, I do have photos of some of the women and girls who died recently:


Christin Gilbert died in 2005 at George "Teflon" Tiller's late abortion mill in Wichita, Kansas.


Laura Grunas, a young police officer in Florida, turned her gun on her lover then herself in the wake of an abortion in 2006.


Diana Lopez was sent home to bleed to death after an abortion at a California Planned Parenthood in 2002.


Holly Patterson died of sepsis after she was given RU-486 in an off-label manner at a California Planned Parenthood in 2002.


Laura Hope Smith died this past September on a Hyannis, Massachusetts abortion table.


Stacy Zallie took her own life after an abortion in 2002.

All I have on Josepha Seletz is that she works at the abortion facility that gave Oriane Shevin her fatal dose of RU-486.

I have the following on clinica para la mujer: Laurence Reich, Abortionist and Pervert; Press Release on Abortionist Braemer; and Abortionist Philip Rand.

Debra Gray was the first woman to die under the dubious care of abortionist Gideo Kioko at Maryland's notorious Hillview abortion mill. Suzanne Logan was injured at around the same time as Debra, but she lingered, paralyzed and mute, in a nursing home for several years before finally dying of her injuries.

Somebody wanted "abortion related to suicide". That's an entire post on its own merits. Though you can click on Stacy Zallie and Laura Grunas, above, for starters.

Somebody wanted "self abortion pictures". You can start here, or Google Geraldine Santoro. She's the poster child for abusive husbands. Never mind locking the bastards up. Just scrape their frightened wives and send them back for more.

And the most recent searcher wanted illegal horrifying abortion stories . Why limit yourself? Browse. I have enough horrifying stories from all manner of abortions. The legal status doesn't seem to have much impact. And if you don't believe that, tell me how any seedy abortion mills could do anyhing worse than Mosche Hachamovitch's staff did to Jammie Garcia, what Maber Medical Center did to Carolina Guitirrez, or what Ron Kuseski did to Christi Stile.

Anniversary: Rare amateur abortion proves fatal

On November 3, 1952, Isabell Cuda went to the home of Mary Murawsky in Rockford, Illinois, for an illegal abortion. Mary was neither licensed nor qualified to practice medicine. Murawsky used some sort of instrument on Isabell. Isabell became ill, and died on November 12, leaving behind a husband and a minor child.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Christi's Choice

The truncated YouTube version. Christi was referred to Mayfair, a National Abortion Federation member facility, by a local Planned Parenthood.

Anniversary: Mysterious abortion death

On November 11, 1929, 23-year-old Mary L. Kelly died in Chicago from an abortion performed by an unidentified perpetrator.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Learning to be a true friend

How to Serve a Pregnant Woman with the Heart of Christ

Eileen Smith -- Laura Hope Smith's mom -- if you are looking for a way to do outreach, you might start here.

Just devastating!

Planned Parenthood is evidently making a tactical retreat from several of its Michigan facilities. They're shutting down Planned Parenthood of West Michigan and Planned Parenthood of Northern Michigan.

Planned Parenthood has seen $700,000 in funding vanish as the state Department of Community Health uses a new formula to determine where health dollars go. The new equation focuses on the percentage of clients who are below the poverty line rather than how many clients a center sees.

In other words, PP can no longer bill the taxpayer at exhorbitant rates for cheap and free "services" to people who can afford to go to a real health care center. The heart just breaks. Though this explains why Planned Parenthood of Mid-Michigan remains open for business. Their victims are poor and thus they can still bill the taxpayers for abusing them:

The following cases are from my notes involving Planned Parenthood of Mid-Michigan was a member of the National Abortion Federation.

A suit by patient L.H. alleged that she underwent an abortion by Dr. Alan Beer at Planned Parenthood of Mid-Michigan on July 16, 1985. No ultrasound was performed to determine gestational age. Beer ruptured the amniotic sac, then referred Harat to University of Michigan Medical Center, where five days later she gave birth to a 2 lb. 3 1/2 oz premature infant boy of approximately 25-29 weeks gestation. The infant, named Bryan, suffered developmental delay, intracranial bleeding, hydrocephalus, and disfigurement.

A suit by patient C.J. alleged that she was attended a counseling appointment on June 22, 1987, and expressed concern that her pregnancy might be tubal or otherwise abnormal because the of "spotty watery bleeding she was experiencing and because this pregnancy was unlike her previous pregnancies." C.J. was assured that a doctor would examine her on June 23, just prior to the abortion, and decide if an ultrasound was necessary. C.J. arrived on June 23 for abortion, was given medicine, and was "instructed to put on a hospital gown and to get on a table and put her feet into stirrups." Seabrook "appeared and attempted to abort her pregnancy without examining Plaintiff." C.J. heard Seabrook comment that he was not "getting much material." Three or four days later, C.J. again experienced watery bleeding and backache, and she "felt tired, depressed and very pregnant." She attempted to contact the clinic on June 27, and left a message on their answering machine. Her call was returned by Nurse Shaw who told her "that her feelings of pregnancy could last for several weeks and assured her that they would go away." On June 29, C.J. had to be taken home from class a by friend due to severe pain. She went to the clinic later that day, per instructions, and was given 3 pelvic exams by Nurse Froebel, who detected an adnexal abdominal mass, and recommended that C.J. see her private physician or go to a hospital. C.J. stayed home the next day, "exhausted and without any energy." She attempted to attend class the following morning, but had to be taken to a faculty lounge to lie down due to pain. An ambulance was called, and emergency room personnel determined that she was hemorrhaging. C.J. required emergency surgery due to a ruptured fallopian tube. She was hospitalized one week. The laboratory report had detected "scanty chorionic villi," indicating that the abortion had not removed the fetus. C.J. alleged negligence in failing to perform other tests and procedures to determine cause of her symptoms.

With patient S.R., the State of Michigan sued Planned Parenthood to recover $7400 Medicaid money paid out for care "for the injuries sustained ... as a result of the alleged negligence and malpractice of the defendants." S.R.'s June 29, 1983 abortion at Planned Parenthood was unsuccessful, and the continuing pregnancy was detected and aborted when S.R. sought a tubal ligation later at University of Michigan Hospital.

A suit by patient B.M. alleged breach of confidentiality: after her January 10, 1989 abortion, the medical lab that ran the pregnancy test sent a bill to her home, resulting in B.M.'s mother learning of the abortion.

HT: The Dignity of Human Life.

Today's searches

Alberto Hodari is a popular man today. People are looking for him. If anybody knows how his little luncheon at Wayne State University went, please let me know. There's nobody like an abortionist with two dead patients -- one of them a 15-year-old statutory rape victim so far advanced in pregnancy that every other abortionist in town turned her away -- to admire and emulate, if you're a Medical Student for Choice!

Somebody wanted information on abortion clinics closed in Alabama. Last year was a big year for that, with the state taking up a backlog in their inspections and shutting down a number of facilities, many member of them members of the National Abortion Federation. The cream of the crop, yessirree! See:

• Sweet Home Alabama
  
• More on the Closing of Summit
  
• Alabama Abortion Clinic Shuts Down
  
• "A Huge Blow for Women"

Somebody wanted Clara Duvall, who according to NOW died in 1929 of a self-induced abortion. NOW's story deviates from what Clara's daughter had written about the events. Interesting.

Somebody wanted information on the parents of Dr. TRM Howard. I guess they wanted to know what kind of parents manage to raise a guy who starts out as a civil rights champion and ends up being a seedy abortionist preying on poor and minority women.

Folks are still searching for Laura Hope Smith (pictured), who died just this past September during an abortion performed in Massachusetts by Dr. Rapin Osathanondh. Laura's mother, Eileen, met with him, and if her observations are correct he may be tottering on the brink of repentence. Pray that somebody is sent to witness to him. I called Carol Everett to ask her advice, since she had sent abortion patient Shary Graham home to bleed to death in 1982. Carol, I figured, would know what this guy is going through and how to reach him. Carol believes a face to face meeting would be best. If you're in Massachusetts, pray about whether or not the person who goes to witness to this man ought to be you. And Eileen, if you're reading this, get in touch. I want to help you pull together an outreach for girls in the church. I have decades of research I'd like to put at your disposal.

Somebody else was looking for EMW Women's Clinic, a National Abortion Federation member clinic. A real wholesome place. Their security guard turned out to be a rapist. And EMW's abortionist botched an abortion on a 16-year-old Indiana girl that Planned Parenthood brought across state lines to evade parental consent laws.

Someone wanted "self abortion". Not something I'd recommend, lest you end up like these women.

And, whoever is searching, yes, until 1972 it really was legal to kill Mormons in Missouri. In fact, it was your civic duty, since there was an Extermination Order on the books. So I guess that between 1838 and 1972, Mormons living or visiting in Missouri were only ambulatory blobs of tissue.

Someone else was looking for abortion and midwives. (For some reason the idea of midwives bloodying their hands with abortion is even more repulsive to me than the idea of doctors doing it.) I keep a list of women who died from illegal abortions performed by people with some medical training, which would include midwives.


I have this to say about "coathanger abortions".

And the most recent searcher wanted information on Spring Adams, the 13-year-old Idaho incest victim who was left in the care or her rapist-father while arrangements were made for a secret abortion. She was shot to death in her bed by her abuser. Nice work, guys. Maybe next time you could consider having the girl removed from the home and her rapist put in jail instead of acting as if an abortion is some magic bullet that will fix everything. But that's just me. I think girls like Spring Adams deserve better than an abortion and a return to their abusers for more rape, or for murder.

Remembering a very close call

Today marks the anniversary of the date a patient of Steven Chase Brigham narrowly escaped with her life. Brigham performed a risky, likely illegal, third-trimester elective abortion on this high-risk patient in an outpatient setting, then failed to hospitalize her promptly when she was clearly going into shock.

But hey, trusting your life to Steve Brigham is perfeclty safe!

Anniversary: Teen scholar dies from safe, legal abortion

"Yvonne" Roe is one of the women Life Dynamics notes on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legalized abortion. Yvonne was a 19-year-old student who died from sepsis on November 9, 1999 in Marrero, Louisiana, after undergoing a safe and legal abortion. She had been an All-American cheerleader and a member of the National Honor Society.

Life Dynamics cites the Clarion Ledger, November 11, 1999, and indicates that though they have information giving Yvonne's real name, they can not release it due to a confidentiality agreement.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Fatal Georgia abortion

Demetrice Andrews, age 22, underwent an abortion on October 17, 1988. She became progressively ill, and was finally admitted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Demetrice suffered multiple organ failure. She died on November 9, 1988.

It is ironic that Demetrice was admitted to Grady to be treated for abortion complications. Another woman, Jacqueline Reynolds, died just two years earlier, from complications of anesthesia administered for an abortion performed at Grady.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Bringing it into the light

Even if these marvelous men and women don't succeed in getting Planned Parenthood's federal funding yanked, the hearings they are no doubt planning should shed some light in some very dark corners.

Pray, pray, pray.

Anniversary: One of a dozen

Eighteen-year-old Christine Mora underwent an abortion at Doctors' Surgical Center in Cypress, California -- an FPA (Family Planning Associates Medical Group) facility. She was about 17 weeks pregnant and a high school senior. The date was November 2, 1994. A nurse practitioner inserted laminaria to dilate Christine's cervix. Christine went home and returned the following day for the abortion.

Dr. Thomas Grubbs performed the D&E and sent Christine to recovery. Preparing to leave the clinic, Christine fell while unattended. Grubbs was called to check her, and noticed slurred speech and inappropriate responses. Somebody called an ambulance, and Christine was taken to La Palma Hospital, where she spent several hours in the emergency room, attended by her friend Robert. When Christine's father was finally located, Robert had to tell him about the abortion as well as about the hospitalization.

Christine was admitted to the intensive care unit, where her condition deteriorated until she was finally taken off life support at noon on November 8, and pronounced dead. Christine left an 18-month old child motherless.

The autopsy showed acute septicemia and hemorrage in the brain, along with some small cervical lacerations. It also revealed that Christine had a congenital heart defect called "foramen ovale," in which a connection between the two sides of her heart had not closed at birth as it was supposed to do. Her family filed a wrongful death suit.

The attorneys for Grubbs, Allred, and FPA claimed that Christine's heart defect, not the abortion, caused her death. But an expert reviewing the case for Christine's family said that the care provided to Christine at the FPA facility "fell below applicable standard" and that the "breach of standard care was the direct cause of Miss Mora's death." In particular, he faulted FPB because:

• Grubbs had never examined Christine prior to the surgery. In fact, he'd had no contact with her at all prior to beginning her abortion.
  
• "The anesthesia record says that Dr. Bruggs did the entire extraction procedure in three minutes (emphasis in original)," and that this haste caused the cervical lacerations.
  

The expert concluded that the amniotic fluid entered Christine's bloodstream through the cervical lacerations, causing her death. Oddly, Dr. David Grimes, the expert defending FPA, agreed that Christine's death was due to an amniotic fluid embolism and not to her heart defect. Grimes, however, claimed that the amniotic fluid had entered Christine's bloodstream when the placenta had detached, and not through the cervical lacerations. Grimes considered three minutes to be adequate time for a 17-week abortion. (Grimes had also spoken on behalf of notorious California abortionist Leo Keneally.)

The lawsuit had gone to trial, with Allred himself taking the stand, when prolifers discovered that Allred was being sued and complained that the medical board and news media were ignoring the death. As soon as the prolifers began agitating, FPA quickly settled with the family, stipulating confidentiality as part of the settlement.

Christine wasn't the only young woman to die from abortion at a facility owned by FPA head honcho Edward Campbell Allred. Others include:

• Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
  
• Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
  
• Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
  
• Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
  
• Laniece Dorsey, age 17, 1986
  
• Joyce Ortenzio, age 32, 1988
  
• Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
  
• Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
  
• Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
  
• Kimberly Neil, 2000
  
• Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004
  

Allred's facilities remain members of the National Abortion Federation despite these deaths.



For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Good news from Capitol Hill

Pro-Life Women in Congress Start Legislative Caucus Opposing Abortion

The number of women in Congress has grown steadily over the years as the old boy's network has given way to a modern feminist world. Though groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood would think to think all of the women are pro-abortion, several pro-life stalwarts have created a new caucus for pro-life women.

Powerful pro-life women leaders are making a difference for mothers and their unborn babies in Congress and they have formed a new outreach for their efforts: the Congressional Pro-Life Women's Caucus.

....

Just last week, the co-chair of that Caucus, Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, provided a strong, pro-life, pro-woman voice at Congress' first abortion hearing. Her testimony was a passionate beacon for the Mexico City Policy that protects taxpayers from supporting groups that promote or perform abortions overseas.

....

Dannenfelser said the pro-life women "are strong, articulate, forceful champions who will not back down" and are "unflinching allies of unborn children and the mothers in poor nations who need true assistance and support to address their poverty -- not abortion."

Today's searches

Somebody wanted "illegal abortion deaths 2005". Well, technically the fatal abortion LeRoy Carhart performed on Christin Gilbert (pictured) in 2005 at George "Teflon" Tiller's late-term abortion mill was illegal. Kansas law only allows post-viabililty abortions to protect a woman from permanent injury or death. Prior to the fatal third-trimester abortion, Chritin was a perfectly healthy young woman. Her only "ailment" was an extra chromosome, i.e. Down syndrome.

Another searcher wanted "death anesthesia". Those I've identified related to abortion are here.

The death of Laura Smith (pictured) is here. She died this past September on a Massachusetts abortion table. Dr. Rapin Osathanondh was the abortionist.

Another search was "abortions in the old days". I have a lot on that. The dead are listed according to who took fatal instrument in hand: amateurs, paramedical people, or physicians. More about abortion pre-Roe in the US is available here.



Someone wanted information on the 1982 death of abortion patient Myrta Baptiste. Her abortion was counted by the Centers for Disease Control as due to illegal abortion because though it took place in an opely operating clinic, and no charges were ever filed, the doctor's license was suspended by the medical board at the time. The other four women who died at that Florida facility -- Ruth Montero, Maura Morales, and Shirley Payne were all counted as legal abortion deaths.

Someone else was searching for Vikram Kaji. I only have a brief comment about how he worked for Stephen Chase Brigham, but this guy really deserves a page of his own. And I have got to fix that page! I must have done it at three in the morning or something.

For "women dead because of abortion", click here. Legal, illegal, and self-induced are all there.

And just scroll down for information about Alberto Hodari, who performed the fatal abortions on Chivon Williams and Tamia Russell. What a treasure he is! What a role model for Medical Students for Choice at Wayne State University. Way to go, kids!

Now there's a role model for you!

"Medical Students for Choice (sic)" have invited Alberto Hodari to speak at Wayne State University.


As Jill Stanek pointed out, it's unlikely any of those admiring students attending the seminar will ask exactly why Hodari was okay with performing an illegal third-trimester abortion on Tamia Russell, a 15-year-old sexual abuse victim who died under this man's tender ministrations.

These admiring students are also unlikely to question Hodari (pictured) about the death of Chivon Williams under his care. They'll likely not question him about the nearly two-dozen lawsuits against him and his facility, such as the woman who had to be hospitalized and needed surgery after Hodari misdiagnosed how far along her pregnancy was and sent her home with retained placenta. They'll not ask about the woman whose pregnancy he failed to verify before proceeding with an abortion procedure carried out to kill a fetus that wasn't there -- puncturing the woman's uterus and leaving her with permanent damage. They'll not ask about the woman whose internal organs he slashed up so badly that she needed a hysterectomy.

He does abortions. That tells these gullible kids everything they think they need to know about this man. In case you're searching for your names on-line kids -- Kia Jones, Jonathan Oakes, Katie O'Connell, and Cynthia Velting-Kidder -- read this, read the links, and re-consider if this guy is really who you want to be when you grow up.

And consider this: Even after all he's done, he's still good enough for the National Abortion Federation, the abortionists' guild you're all hoping one day to be good enough to join. Well, there's good news on that front, kids -- you don't have to be good. You just have to be willing to do abortions and pay your dues. They'll plug you as if you could do no wrong. No matter how bad you are, NAF will assure abortion-minded women that you're an excellent doctor who adheres to the highest standards of care. No matter how many women you maim and kill.



For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Mostly nauseating, but with a few pithy moments

In their "health" section, of all places, the New York Times profiles abortionist Susan Wicklund and her book about how wonderful and rewarding it is to be an abortionist.

Why did she become an abortionist? Because she wasn't particularly impressed with her own liberating and empowering safe and legal abortion:

She became pregnant. She had an abortion. It was legal, but it was ghastly.

Her counseling, she recalls, was limited to instructions to pay in advance, in cash, and to go to the emergency room if she had a problem. During the procedure itself, her every question drew the same response: “Shut up!”

Determined that abortion at her hands would be, I dunno, a fulfilling and satisfying experience I guess, Wicklund took up the curette as soon as she could and never looked back. She wrote a new book to "encourage more open discussion of abortion and its prevalence."

As if it's not been talked to death. How many women are blogging their abortions? Proudly wearing the Planned Parenthood "I had an abortion" t-shirt. (Though, "Ask me about the one I killed" might be more to the point.)

Wicklund's denial, however, runs deep:

“We don’t talk about it,” she said in a telephone interview. “People say, ‘Nobody I know has ever had an abortion,’ and that is just not true. Their sisters, their mothers have had abortions.”

If your sister, your mother, jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? Is this a "jump on the bandwagon" approach to promoting abortion. Don't be left out! Everybody else has had an abortion! What's hindering you?

But Dr. Wicklund acknowledges that abortion is an issue fraught with dilemmas. In the book, she describes witnessing, as a medical student, the abortion of a 21-week fetus. She writes that at the sight of its tiny arm she decided she would perform abortions only in the first trimester of pregnancy. She says late-term abortions should be legal, but her decision means she occasionally sees desperate women she must refuse to help.

I thought if you refused to do an abortion, the woman would reflexively reach for a coathanger, ream herself out, and drop dead. Isn't that why it "needs" to be legal and readily available? What's the matter, Dr. Wicklund? Squeamish if you have to actually see the arms and legs, instead of packing them off to the pathology lab and letting somebody else confront the fruits of your labor?

Dr. Wicklund describes her horror when she aborted the pregnancy of a woman who had been raped, only to discover, by examining the removed tissue, that the pregnancy was further along than she or the woman had thought — and that she had destroyed an embryo the woman and her husband had conceived together.

But if all it was was tissue, what's the big deal? Her husband's tissue, the rapist's tissue, it's all just tissue, right? Unless it's not. And then why are you destroying it?

The closing notes that Wicklund loves abortion because “It is one of the few areas of medicine where you are not working with a sick person...."

God forbid a doctor work with sick people.

Not to mention I thought all these women were having abortions "in consultaion with their doctors". Ya know, for medical reasons. You mean abortion is something that healthy women are doing to healthy fetuses? I thought that was a lie put out by antichoicers.

There's something fundamentally wrong with finding destruction of human life so satisfying.

HT: JJ

The best of 40 Days for Life

From the 40 Days for Life Blog:

HOUSTON, TEXAS:

During course the course of the 40 Days for Life, countless women went to local Crisis Pregnancy Centers for free pregnancy tests and Christian counseling. Praise God! Many were sent by the pro-lifers manning the prayer vigil and it was reported to us that many others were showing up at these CPC’s with the literature we were handing out at Planned Parenthood. It was obvious to those of us who pray regularly at Planned Parenthood that their business was down during this campaign. When we ended, during the course of the morning over 175 people came out to pray. One of the new Planned Parenthood escorts as she was helping to usher the moms in seemed very taken aback when she heard the loving kind way we speak to and counsel the moms. She then proceeded to stop escorting and just observed for a while. Shortly thereafter she was seen taking a Rosary out and started praying with us from inside Planned Parenthood’s fence! We know that Planned Parenthood lies to them about our approach, and in fact at least 3 of the escorts during this campaign told us that we “weren’t what they expected.” Almost to a person the participants in this campaign told us that they wanted to continue, this next week they will be contacted to schedule their times. Our goal is to eventually man every hour that they are open.

....

TUCSON, ARIZONA:

Praise God!!!!! Tucson ended our Vigil today (only for this week) with a promise to continue by registering families who will go one day per month or more to pray at the abortuaries in our town. We already have 4 families for Saturdays! Next is our super good news … PP was not killing today, the second time during the 40 Days Vigils that they were not killing on their busiest day of the week! Additionally, the private abortuary, located in the same private property complex, was not killing yesterday, the second time during the 40 Days, and again, on their busiest day of the week!

....

WASHINGTON, D.C.:

The 15-plus babies that we know were saved was the biggest blessing. ....

....

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK:

Our 40 Days or Life has touched many lives. Girls that have had abortions shared their stories with our prayer angels and are seeking healing. Care Net, right across the street from Planned Parenthood, has been kept very busy throughout the Forty Days for Life Vigil. People stopping and joining from the street and wanting to give money to support the PRO-LIFE CAUSE. So many had no idea that Planned Parenthood promotes abortion and promiscuity and are amazed when we are standing there to PRAY THEM AWAY. The CEO of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Inc. tried to stage a rally against the 40 Days for Life and the press coverage backfired and was more pro-life than pro-abortion.

Yet another anniversary with a doc implicated

On November 6, 1923, Mrs. Agnes Wendt died at Chicago's St. Anne's Hospital from complications from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Irene Wagoner was exonerated by the coroner, but nevertheless indicted for murder in Agnes' death.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Anniversary: Another doc, another death

On November 4, 1928, 22-year-old Anna Borndal died at the office of Dr. Lou E. Davis of Chicago, from complications of an abortion performed there that day. Davis was held by the coroner for unintentional manslaughter. She was indicted by a grand jury for homicide.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Unusual site for the suicidal

I've been searching for a very funny but poignant and to-the-point addressing the would-be suicide. Here's what I'm turning up:

Before You Kill Yourself

Does anybody remember the site? It mentioned how much you hurt the people you leave behind, how you'd better sort out what afterlife there is or isn't because if you do kill yourself you'll be there, and had some weird stuff about a girl who supposedly scribbled her suicide note so illegibly that her bewildered parents thought she had coprophilia.

Anybody?

The baby that refused to die

We're twinseparable! Happy with his brother, the boy who refused to die

When Rebecca Jones learned, 10 weeks into her pregnancy, that she was carrying twins, she and her husband were excited, "over the moon."

Then an ultrasound at 20 weeks revealed heartbreaking trouble. One twin, Gabriel, was half the size of his brother Ieuan. His heart was enlarged to three times its normal size. Doctors feared that Gabriel would suffer a heart attack or stroke and die in the womb, endangering Ieuan's life. They recommended a procedure to beat the Grim Reaper to the ailing baby, certain that this would pose less threat to the healthy twin's life.

Rebecca was heartbroken. Doctors told her there was no way Gabriel could live even if he survived to birth. They presented the choice to Rebecca as between risking the life of the healthy child in order to possibly have Gabriel be born alive but die alone, versus a quick death in utero with his brother at his side. This convinced Rebecca that the procedure would be best for both babies.

So when Rebecca was 25 weeks pregnant, doctors tried to sever Gabriel's umbilical cord, thus cutting off his blood supply and killing him. But the cord was too tough to cut through. So they decided to divide the placenta, thus severing the connection between the twins, figuring that Gabriel would quicky die and Ieuan could survive.

A grieving Rebecca put her hands over her gravid belly, saying her goodbyes to her unborn son.

But the next morning, Rebecca could still feel both babies kicking. Doctors were astonished when they could still hear two heartbeats. Doctors dubbed the feisty little fetus "Rocky". And as time went on, Gabriel gained weight and his heart started to reduce in size.

Doctors believe that dividing the placenta may have evened out the imbalance between the twins, allowing Gabriel to get the nutrients he needed.

At 31 weeks, the boys were delivered by c-section. Ieuan weighed in at 3 pounds 8 ounces, and Gabriel at 1 pound 12 ounces. After a NICU stay, the boys went home. Now, at seven months of age, Ieuan weighs 15 pounds and Gabriel 12 pounds 6 ounces.



Rebecca says that the boys always stay close, always holding hands. "The boys are so healthy, they have huge appetites too. Ieuan is the noisy one, while Gabriel is always laughing, it's like he's just so happy to be here. There is such a strong bond between them. They are always holding hands and if one cries, the other reaches out to comfort him. Doctors tried to break their bond in the womb, but they just proved it couldn't be broken."

And, God willing, doctors will use what Gabriel taught them to save other babies with similar problems.

UN doing something right for a change

Sanitation for All the Goal at World Toilet Summit

Though it includes such ideas as a solar-powered commode that runs without water, the 2007 World Toilet Summit is no bathroom novelty show.

Participants at New Delhi's four-day gathering of experts, toilet aficionados, and even royalty from 44 countries are grappling with health and sanitation issues that endanger almost one-third of the world's people who don't have toilets.

The United Nations estimates there are some 2.6 billion people without access to basic sanitation, over half living in India and China, a stark reminder of the challenges facing these developing nations despite their recent rampant economic growth.

"In India there are 700 million people who do not have access to safe and hygienic toilets. The waterborne diseases this causes kill 500,000 children every year, mostly from diarrhea," said Bindeshwar Pathak, the head of the Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement.

The theme of the seventh annual toilet summit — co-hosted by Pathak's group, the Indian government and the Singapore-based World Toilet Organization — is reaching the U.N.'s goal of halving the number of people living without water and sanitation by 2015.

One new technology being touted for areas with limited water is a waterless toilet produced by African Sanitation. Using solar heat and a bit of biomass -- such as shredded grass clippings -- the toilets convert waste into oderless compost.

Anniversary: The death of "Creepy Kenny"

In tallies of murdered abortion workers, abortion supporters never count clinic owner/administrator Kenneth Yellin, who was gunned down outside his Chicago abortion facility November 3, 1979. Yellin had been shot in the head five times in an apparent gangland execution. But new stories didn't follow the pattern we're accustomed to: that of lamenting the assassination (presumably by prolifers) of a hapless abortion provider. Instead, coverage featured such headlines as "'Creepy Kenny' died in the gutter where he belonged."

"He left a trail of sour deals, bad paper, and civil suits," one article said, noting that Yellin had run a series of businesses opened with money his father gave him (a paint and body shop, a car dealership, an import car business, and Kenneth Yellin Enterprises -- whatever that was). The story went on, "He put his business acumen and money into concerns that were characterized by their increasing sordidness and which have known links to organized crime. He ran a marriage counseling service which a former prosecuting attorney said was a front for prostitution, and was then believed to have operated or invested in X-rated movie theaters. The abortion business seemed a natural progression."

Yellin, stories said, picked up the nickname "Creepy Kenny" as a child, when he was reputed to pull stunts such as putting sand in the gas tanks of parked cars.

His attempts to get a degree ended in failure when he was flunked out of four colleges.

Yellin was known for living high and on the edge. He had previously been arrested in his home town "for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest... charges he would beat on a technicality. He was driving a maroon Corvette and wearing a $2000 leather coat." An attorney reflected on Yellin after his death, saying, "I remember him driving around town in a big white Cadillac convertible. There was always a blond sitting next to him. Different blonds each time."

Yellin's facility, originally called "Women's Medical Facility," had been closed by the state for licensing violations, but Yellin reopened it as Biogenetics. Yellin had been passing himself off as "Dr. York" at Biogenetics, performing physical examinations on unsuspecting abortion patients. "Dr. York" was accused of battery for squeezing a woman's breasts during an 'examination,'" although for unreported reasons the charges were later dropped.

An undercover investigator at Biogenetics reported that Yellin scolded a recovery room worker, telling her, "We're giving out too many cookies. Cookies cost money." Yellin was this stingy with his cookies even though the patients had been fasting for a day prior to their abortions and were coming into recovery weak and hungry.

After Yellin's murder, police went to his "elaborate" apartment and found "his live-in girlfriend, a tall, thin blond named Melody Forster" stuffing cash into a suitcase. Forster later turned up in Florida. "There were pornographic video cassettes and assorted sexual paraphernalia stacked near the bed," reports said.

During the investigation, evidence turned up that Yelling had recently lost around $200,000 "in a confidence scheme." Police also sought out "Robin Dragin, a professional burglar with mob connections," who ran another Chicago abortion clinic that competed with Biogenetics for customers.

"Yellin reportedly held a secret interest in a second abortion clinic on the Far South Side that burned down. The fire is being reinvestigated for possible arson. Yellin was a heavy gambler and made high-risk investments. Although he made a 'fortune' from his business, Yellin owed a lot of money because he spent and invested it faster than he could make it."

Yellin's estate included "five suburban buildings worth more than half a million dollars," $550,000 in personal property, "six autos, three boats, stocks and bonds worth more than $200,000." Yellin left assets of $1.3 million, yet managed to die $1 million in debt.

Yellin got no sympathy from the press -- or from anybody else, it seems -- on the grounds of "providing vital reproductive health care services." Rather, the fact that he was entangled in a seedy abortion mill was treated as just one more reason society didn't mourn his death. One article quoted a police investigator as commenting, "What goes around comes around. He was a butcher. He got what he deserved. He died in the gutter where he belonged."

Kenneth Yellin's murder remains unsolved.

Anniversary: Perforated bowel and a laxative

Twenty-six-year-old Moris Helen Herron went to Bakersfield, California doctor William D. Stanley for a tubal ligation in October of 1983. When Stanley examined Helen, he informed her that she was pregnant and asked if she wanted him to perform an abortion when he did the tubal ligation. Helen consented, and on October 23, Stanley operated on her. After Helen went home, she suffered weakness, vomiting, and severe pain. She called Stanley, who instructed her to take a laxative.

Helen developed a high fever, and died on November 3. An autopsy found feces and feculent fluid in Helen's abdominal cavity from a hole in her intestines. Helen's mother, Inez Herron, sued Stanley on behalf of her two surviving children, and Stanley settled out of court for $200,000.

When a local pro-life group wrote to Stanley to chastize him for his treatment of Helen, he wrote back, saying, "Elective abortion refers to termination of a live viable pregnancy upon the request of the mother. I have never performed this service or even offered it." He claimed that he was merely performing a D&C on Helen after a miscarriage.

NOTE: A previous researcher evidently became confused when reading the name "Moris" on the lawsuit filed by Helen's mother, Inez. Therefore, some reports of this case mistakenly identify the dead woman as being named Inez Herron.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Spiritual reflections on who the real Enemy is

As 40 Days for Life draws to a close, I'd like to revisit an old post:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 NAS

When it comes to the abortion battle, it seems the lines are drawn pretty clearly: prolife vs. prochoice. No matter which side you align yourself with, it's easy to tell who is friend and who is foe, right? If you're prolife, the prochoicers are the enemy. If you're prochoice, the prolifers are the enemy. Right? Well, it might be possible to put forth that argument from a purely secular perspective (although I don't think it holds water even from a secular perspective). But from a Christian perspective, the idea that this is a war of prolife versus prochoice -- or even "good guys" versus "bad guys" -- is bogus. The Bible makes it pretty clear who the Enemy is. We can explore this Enemy at length at another time. Right now, we'll look closely at Ephesians 6:12, as a reminder of who the enemy is not:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Let's turn to the Greek Lexicon and see what we can find about the words used in this passage.

We can start with the Greek word transliterated "pale" (pal ay). This word is used only in this passage, and means "wrestling (a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck); the term is transferred to the Christian's struggle with the power of evil." So it looks like we're not talking about a "live and let live" situation, in which our Enemy will let us be if we ignore it. We're engaged in a wrestling match in which one, and only one, can emerge victorious.

We can then look at the Greek words transliterated "sarx," indicating "flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood)...used of natural or physical origin, ...denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God;" and "haima" (hah ee ma), "blood." We can take this then pretty literally -- we're not fighting flesh and blood, mortal creatures, men and women like ourselves.

Well, then, what are we fighting? Here's where it really gets interesting.

The word translated here as "powers" is the Greek transliterated "exousia" (ex oo see ah). Here are some of the ways this word is defined:

• power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
  
• physical and mental power
  
• the ability or strength with which one is endued, which he either possesses or exercises
  the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
  
• the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
  
• the leading and more powerful among created beings superior to man, spiritual potentates

I find it fascinating that Paul chose this word here, a word that means not just those in authority or those with power, but free will itself. Although this idea is not, I would presume, the crux of the passage, I think we'd do well to remember that our own free will is often ready to trip us up. The very capacity for making choices which the abortion advocates hold up as the ultimate good seems here cast as a potential pitfall. This stands as a warning to all Christians no matter what side of the abortion battle they've stationed themselves on: just because we can does not mean we should. Having been given free will, and the power to make choices, we are given at every moment of our lives the capacity to rebel against God and set ourselves up as petty tyrants over our own lives and the lives of those around us.

Again, though, this is an interesting side concept. Biblical scholars point to the meaning of this word in this passage as focusing on spiritual powers having control in the world, and over people.

"World forces of this darkness" is a concept built of three words, two defined here:

• The word translated as "world forces" is transliterated "kosmokrator." This word is used only in this passage, and means "lord of the world, prince of this age; the devil and his demons."
  
• The word translated as "darkness" is transliterated "skotos," meaning "darkness of night; darkness of darkened eyesight or blindness; metaphorically of ignorance respecting divine things and human duties, and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality, together with their consequent misery in hell; persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway."

We can pull this together into a picture of Satan and the way he works in the world, where he has dominion. Note also, that the word translated "darkness" can refer to "persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway," this doens't indicate that these persons themselves are that which we are fighting, but the darkness that is being manifested in them. This is, perhaps, a fancy way of restating, "Hate the sin, love the sinner."

The third concept of what we are fighting is translated here, "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

The word translated "spiritual" is transliterated "pneumatikos," and translates as "sprit." The specific meaning that fits in this passage is "belonging to a spirit, or a being higher than man but inferior to God."

The word translated as "wickedness" is transliterated "poneria," meaning "depravity, iniquity, wickedness; malice; evil purposes and desires." That's pretty straightforward.

The word translated "heavenly" is transliterated "epouranios," which translates pretty much into our current "heavenly." We tend to think of "heavenly" as meaning "good," or "superior," but in this passage it can't be indicitave of anything good or superior, and therefore must designate that we're talking about a spiritual realm, a higher reality, and not the physical world visible around us. This stands in contrast to what this passage says we do not contend against, i.e. "flesh and blood," or worldly enemies.

This is not meant to be the final word on how we can apply this passage, either in our lives or as we struggle to put an end to abortion. But it does make a good starting point for though and discussion.

Answered prayers for moms of abortion victims?

Aimee Herd of Breaking Christian News has posted the following words from Eileen Smith, mother of Laura Hope Smith, who died just this past September from an abortion in Massachusetts:

It was 7pm, we had just finished dinner and settled down to watch the evening news. My husband's cell phone rang with Laura's name on the ID. We always loved hearing from her. Laura was so full of life, your spirits were lifted just by talking to her. Except this time it wasn't her voice. There was guttural screaming and sobbing on the other end by a voice I did not immediately recognize. I heard the words "Laura", "Hospital" and the worst one, "Not Breathing," and then "abortion".

My brain tilted, my heart sank, and life as I knew it ceased. It was Laura's friend Karen on the phone. She told me what happened, that Laura was having an abortion and something went terribly wrong. Karen was at the ER and the Doctor needed to talk to me. What Karen didn't know was that Laura had arrived at the ER already deceased. The EMT's found her this way at the abortion mill. The hospital was looking for next of kin to give the news to first, and Karen wasn't kin.

"Laura's gone" the doctor told me. I wanted to hear "50-50 chance"...I would even accept "90-10 chance." But the word "chance" was not in the doctor's statement. All hope was gone, along with my daughter.

My beautiful, precious daughter, whom we had adopted at age 5, and had immediately forgotten that we didn't give her birth. Laura became as much ours as our natural born children. She was a gift we didn't ask for, and one we treasured. I have questions that I can never get answers to—the "whys." Why didn't she come to us? Why didn't she tell us she was pregnant? Why did she think that abortion was the solution to her problem?

Laura was raised in a loving, Christian home. Laura got upset when others she knew had abortions. Laura loved children. Laura was pregnant with her fiancé's baby; he loved her and says he didn't believe in abortion.

There are some questions that I did get answers for. I met with the doctor who aborted my grandchild, and who saw my daughter take her last breath. He would only meet me in a public place, without my husband. We talked for an hour and a half. Based on that meeting I believe I know what happened to Laura. He denies doing anything that caused her death. When we were done talking about Laura, I prayed, and asked God if there was anything He would have me say to the doctor. This is what I said next.... "The blood of my daughter is on your hands; the blood of my grandchild is on your hands; the blood of every life you have ever taken is on your hands," and I went on from there. He was silent with his head hung low.

When I was ready to leave, I asked him if he would think about my daughter, and consider not doing any more abortions—he said he would think about it. When I left there I was praying, and said to God, "Can You stop this man from doing abortions? Is this what You have in mind, that he might even stop doing them?" I was thinking too small. I thought if one girl changed her mind [about having an abortion], I could find some comfort. I then realized that the Lord had much bigger plans. I have never experienced in my life, such tragedy, nor such grace.

I know that God is going to bring good out of my daughter's death. What a horrible thing; for my daughter to be associated with abortion. But, if God's going to use it for good and for His glory, then so be it. We're going very public with a very shameful, private thing because I believe God wants to use it to save lives.

I believe the truth will come out, and the light of God will shine on this. Laura's death has had tremendous impact around the country, and even into Canada, without the local news mentioning it. It just came out in the secular media this week—5 weeks after Laura's death.

I now believe it is my calling to keep telling Laura's story to the Church, and the world. I naively believed that abortion was not a choice for a Christian girl. A Pastor had even apologized to me and the Lord, for not speaking about this from his pulpit. We both had false assumptions. This is a problem in the Church, and one that needs to be spoken about from the pulpits. We have to take the "A" word out of the closet, put it out in the open, and discuss it. And maybe, possibly, hopefully, we'll even become active against it.

Please keep our family in your prayers, and please tell someone Laura's story.

Debbie Cardamone, mother of Marla Anne Cardamone, who died of an unwanted abortion in 1989, has been praying for a chance to network with the other devastated parents of women and girls who died in safe, legal abortions. Too often prolifers dismiss their daughters as "baby killing tramps" who just reaped what they sowed, and prochoicers dismiss their daughters as collateral damage in the war to keep abortion legal, readily available, and as lightly regulated as humanly possible. This makes being the loved one of a woman who died from a legal abortion particularly lonely.

Through Aimee, I've passed Debbie's phone number along to Eileen. Debbie and her husband are hoping for a call, so that the two families can comfort each other. This will be an answered prayer for the Cardamone family.

And in closing, I'd like to focus on one portion of what Eileen had to say:

I met with the doctor who aborted my grandchild, and who saw my daughter take her last breath. He would only meet me in a public place, without my husband. We talked for an hour and a half. Based on that meeting I believe I know what happened to Laura. He denies doing anything that caused her death. When we were done talking about Laura, I prayed, and asked God if there was anything He would have me say to the doctor. This is what I said next.... "The blood of my daughter is on your hands; the blood of my grandchild is on your hands; the blood of every life you have ever taken is on your hands," and I went on from there. He was silent with his head hung low.

When I was ready to leave, I asked him if he would think about my daughter, and consider not doing any more abortions—he said he would think about it. When I left there I was praying, and said to God, "Can You stop this man from doing abortions? Is this what You have in mind, that he might even stop doing them?" I was thinking too small. I thought if one girl changed her mind [about having an abortion], I could find some comfort. I then realized that the Lord had much bigger plans. I have never experienced in my life, such tragedy, nor such grace.

God willing, Laura's needless death may turn this man around, bringing healing to his soul and to those his conversion impacts. Pray, pray, pray.

Early evidence looks like we may be getting two answered prayers: two families connected who need someone to share their grief, and an abortionist who looks close to repentance.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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40 Days for Life vigil

If you can't get to an abortion facility yourself for the penultimate 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, please consider being there spiritually at Magee Women's Hospital, where Marla Cardamone was browbeaten into an unwanted, fatal abortion in 1989.

Magee is part of an abortionist training program, which thank God their doctors are allowed to opt out of. But the doctors that opt out are not given training in treating the complications suffered by their colleagues' unfortunate patients.

Pray, pray, pray. And if you can commit to a time to pray for Magee, please let me know. Right now I'm trying to cover the entire 24 hours by myself.a

Recent searches

Somebody was looking for "safe at home self abortions". First of all, there's no such thing as an abortion that's safe for your baby. Second, there's no such thing as an abortion that's safe for your soul. Third, are you NUTS? Do you want to end up like Daisy, Penny, or Kris? The best you can hope for is to live to repent.

Someone else wanted "william waddill baby". William Baxter Waddill is the creepy S.O.B. who got away with strangling a live born infant in the NICU because the jury found out that the state of California had a definition of "death" that wasn't covered in the trial. Waddill, of course, by proving his commitment to providing the mother with a dead baby regardless of the location the killing takes place in, managed to get himself hired by National Abortion Federation member Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a chain where the following women and girls suffered fatal abortions: Deanna Bell, Chanelle Bryant, Patricia Chacon, Laniece Dorsey, Josefina Garcia, Denise Holmes, Susan Levy, Christine Mora, Kimberly Neil, Joyce Ortenzio, Mary Pena, and Tami Suematsu.


Somebody was searching for "Marguerite Reed kansas ". She's a Tiller employee who was involved in the death of Christin Gilbert.

A couple of people wanted "josepha seletz ". Seletz is associated with Eve Surgical Center, where Oriane Shevin got her fatal dose of RU-486.

Several people were looking for Laura Grunas. She's the Florida police officer who killed her baby's father, then herself, after an abortion.

And last but not least, some soul, for some reason, was searching for "andre nehorayoff ". Nehorayoff is the New Jersy abortionist responsible for the deaths of "Ellen" and "Faye".

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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My Child, My Gift

Madeline Nugent, author of Having Your Baby When Others Say No!, has done it again!

Buy it here and give a copy to your doctor!

Hiding the bodies in plain sight

Legend has it that the Centers for Disease Control keep track of abortion deaths. The case of Latachie Veal should lay that legend to rest. Latachie was 17 years old, and 22 weeks pregnant, when Robert Dale Crist performed an abortion on her at Houston's West Loop Clinic November 2, 1991.

According to Latachie's family, she bled heavily at the clinic, and cried out to the staff for help. They told her that her symptoms were normal, and sent her home. Several hours later, Latachie stopped breathing. Her brother-in-law called 911 while her sister did CPR, to no avail. Latachie was dead on arrival at Ben Taub Hospital.

If Latachie's death certificate had been filled out properly, with the notation of the abortion in the proper box, using the proper ICD-9 code, then theoretically the National Center for Health Statistics would spot the abortion code and report it. But most states send only a statistical sample of their death certificate data to the NCHS. So the CDC would be notified of Latachie's death through the NCHS only if the death certificate was properly filled out, and if Latachie's death certificate was among those abstracted and sent to the NCHS.

But still, according to abortion defenders, Latachie's death would nevertheless be automatically reported to the Centers for Disease Control. They're not clear on who is supposed to report the death. Was West Loop Clinic supposed to report it? Was Crist supposed to report it? Was Ben Taub Hospital supposed to report it? Was the medical examiner supposed to report it? Was the Texas Department of Health supposed to report it? The CDC says it gets abortion death information from abortionists, abortion facilities, hospitals, and state health departments, but it does not mention that the reporting is not mandatory.

This does not mean that Latachie's death went utterly unnoticed.

Latachie's family filed suit, retaining the flamboyant "Racehorse" Haynes as their attorney. The case was highly publicized, both in Texas and in Missouri, where Crist had performed a fatal abortion on Diane Boyd, a 19-year-old developmentally disabled woman who had been raped in the institution where she'd lived.

The mainstream publicity went beyond the usual newspaper articles, with Crist giving television interviews calling the publicity "media hype" and "a political event." Haynes retorted, "I wish he would have a copy of the 911 tape.... If he would talk to the parents, if he would talk to the sister as she gave her CPR or talk to the brother-in-law as she was breathing her last breath and see then if he thinks it's a media event."

With all this mainstream publicity in two states, prolife organizations picked up the story, and it was reported in prolife newsletters around the nation. A lot of people very quickly found out about the abortion death of 17-year-old Latachie Veal. But did the CDC?

At the 1992 National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar in Dallas, Crist spoke openly of Latachie's death. (He did not, of course, mention her name; I've concluded that he's discussing Latachie's death, since there's been no evidence of any another 17-year-old abortion patient of his who died in 1991.) Present at that Risk Management Seminar, where Crist chattered about Latachie's death, were two -- count 'em -- two -- staffers from the Centers for Disease Control's abortion surveillance activities area: Stanley Henshaw and Lisa Koonin.

Henshaw's presence isn't quite as remarkable as Koonin's. It was Lisa Koonin, specifically, whose job it was to "verify" abortion deaths, and obtain copies of death certificates. These she was to pass on to a research fellow, Clarice Green, who would then gather the full information about the case.

In spite of all the publicity, in spite of the lawsuit, in spite of the prolifers shouting from the rooftops, in spite of the abortionist discussing the death at an event attended by the very woman whose job it was to notice abortion deaths, the Centers for Disease Control did not notice Latachie's death. Their 1991 Abortion Surveillance Report, published in May of 1995, did not even make any mention of abortion mortality. And when we at Life Dynamics filed a request for information about abortion deaths, we found that the CDC counted zero -- count 'em -- zero -- abortion deaths among women of Latachie's race in the 15 - 19 age range. In other words, they didn't even notice.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the CDC failed to notice this highly-publicized death, discussed openly at an event attended by two of their abortion surveillance staffers, exactly what does it take to get them to notice an abortion death? And how can we even pretend to believe that any serious attempt to accurately count abortion deaths was being made?

Anniversary: Bleeding to death safely and legally

Life Dynamics lists 24-year-old Karretu Jabbie on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legal abortions. According to LDI, Karretu was from West Africa. She underwent an incomplete abortion and bled to death on November 2, 1989.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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My, how they've grown

"Medical Students for Choice" (and by "choice" they mean "abortion") has grown by leaps and bounds. They proudly tout their success in pressuring teaching facilities to become death trainers, and their fellow medical students to become killers instead of healers:

* Coordinated a strong network of student leaders on medical school campuses across the United States and Canada, including groups in traditionally conservative areas of both countries;
* Established formal MSFC campus groups at 123 medical schools;
* Increased our membership from 4,000 in early 1999 to over 10,000 in 2005;
* Established electives, or other opportunities for abortion education, at medical schools across the U.S. and Canada;
* Matched hundreds of student externs with reproductive health facilities in the U.S. and Canada through the Reproductive Health Externship Program;
* Held 7 successful Leadership Training Programs, which offer MSFC student leaders the opportunity to develop effective community organizing skills; and
* Held twelve successful Annual Meetings serving more than 2,850 medical students and residents from across North America.

I could vomit just reading it.

If you can't get near an abortion facility to pray on the penultimate day of 40 Days for Life, consider committing to praying that MSFC will go the way of the dodo as young aspiring doctors wake up and realize that you don't help women by killing their children.

Let's get them all covered!

40 Days for Life is pushing to have a prayer presence outside every abortion facility in America on November 3, the penultimate day of the event.

I'm in Korea, so I can't be present. But many of you can be.

Life Dynamics posts a list of known abortion facilities. Or you can just check your Yellow Pages and see who is targeting women in your area. If you live in a more rural area where there are no abortion facilities, your local Planned Parenthood, which feeds women into these mills, is an appropriate place. If you can't get there physically, be there spiritually. Pick an abortion facility that isn't covered, and pray. My target, from here in Korea, will be Magee Womens Hospital, where Marla Cardamone (pictured) was browbeaten into her fatal abortion. Magee not only commits abortions, but they turn innocent medical residents into abortionists by having them initiated into dismemberment abortions through 24 weeks, in conjunction with the University Health Center of Pittsburgh residency program in ob/gyn, which clearly needs prayer because they train all their residents to kill. (Yeah, they have an opt-out, but they still require the resident to train in "options counseling" -- read "How to convince patients that abortion is really in their best interests regardless of how brokenhearted they are at the prospect" -- at an abortion facility.) My prayer time, then, will be starting at 1 in the afternoon my local time, and ending at 1 the next day.

Don't worry if you're the only one that can show up at your local practitioner. Physically you may be alone, but you'll be united in prayer. And let 40 Days for Life know where you'll be, and tell them how it turns out.

Anniversary: 1992 abortion death in Maine

"Susan" Roe is one of the women Life Dynamics notes on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legalized abortion. According to Life Dynamics, they obtained confidential information from the CDC and state health officials indicating that this 21-year-old caucasian woman died November 1, 1992, after a safe and legal abortion performed in Maine.

Anniversary: "Health" abortion proves fatal to mother

On November 1, 1991, 21-year-old Anjelica Duarte underwent an abortion by Dr. Larry Thompson at Women's Place Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to one of Anjelica's friends, the young mom had sought an abortion because a doctor had recommended that she delay having another baby for five years due to health problems. Anjelica already had a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

After the abortion, Anjelica was kept under observation for several hours, but was not given any care. She was rushed to the hospital by paramedics at 7:30 that evening, but she was dead on arrival. A hospital spokesman said that she had lost 90 percent of her blood; her uterus had been perforated.

In reviewing the case, the medical board noted that Thompson did not have adequate equipment for post-operative care, and revoked his license.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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