Verifying the "Blood Money" Death

The Story Carol Told

Former abortion entrepreneur Carol Everett, in Blood Money, tells of how the abortionist in one of her clinics sent a woman home to bleed to death over a pitcher of margaritas.

Carol opens her book with the story of the woman she calls "Sheryl Mason." At first believed to be 18 weeks pregnant, "Sheryl" turned out to be twenty weeks pregnant, according to the abortionist's estimate on examining her. The clinic held the $375 she'd already paid and gave her until that Friday to come up with another $125.

It was already after 7 p.m. when "Sheryl" arrived with the extra cash, Carol said. She knew "Sheryl" would be in recovery for a long time because of her advanced state of pregnancy, so she moved her to the head of the queue to speed up the process.

After "Sheryl's" safe and legal abortion was completed, Carol met the abortionist, Harvey Johnson, in the supply room to verify that all fetal parts were accounted for. As the fetus was verified complete, and Harvey ran the remains down the garbage disposal, they discussed their plans for the evening. Carol had a date; Harvey was going to have margaritas with his girlfriend, Carol recalled.

Carol proceeded to her office to tend to administrative work. Harvey resumed the evening's abortions.

Later that evening, Harvey called Carol to the recovery room; "Sheryl" was bleeding heavily. None of the staff had ever seen that much blood. They were all scared, but did their best to calm the patient and get on top of the situation. An aide massaged the patient's uterus to encourage it to contract and reduce the bleeding:

Harvey and I stepped outside the recovery room to talk. .... He looked at his watch. "I'm leaving to meet Fredi at Ninfa's," he said. "Ill call back, and I have my beeper on if you need me. Sheryl will be fine. Just be sure to keep massaging her uterus until the bleeding stops. When her vital signs are stable, dismiss her. I'll see you in the morning."

The staff cleaned "Sheryl" up as best they could, and brought her boyfriend back to keep her company. Carol finished up her administrative work, checked on "Sheryl," and called her boyfriend to cancel their date.

Carol Everett

Harvey assumed that the problem had corrected itself -- whatever the problem had been. And Carol sat by "Sheryl" and the boyfriend, waiting to hear from Harvey.

"Sheryl" wanted to leave, to go home and be in her own bed. Carol was uneasy, but decided to let "Sheryl" go home at about 11:00, admonishing her to call if there was any trouble. So it was Carol, an administrator, who ended up making what should have been a medical decision made by a physician -- a physician who had left the hemorrhaging patient in the care of untrained staff because the margaritas were waiting.

Carol was awakened at 6:00 the next morning by a phone call from Harvey:

"Her boyfriend called me this morning at about three and told me Sheryl was cramping heavily. I told him to put her in a tub of hot water. He called back a little later to say she was unconscious. I told him to get her to [the hospital] at once, and I would meet them there. When she arrived, I started intravenous fluids and a blood transfusion... but she's gone."

Stunned, Carol followed Harvey's instructions to just go about the day's business -- but to pull "Sheryl's" chart and keep it in her office.

They went about their normal routine at the clinic, but Carol's thoughts were elsewhere. At first those thoughts were of the woman's children, left orphaned. But then came near panic over what this death would mean for Carol Everett. Would there be bad publicity? Would the clinic end up closed? Could they recover from this blow?

That night, Carol discussed the situation with Harvey again. He told her that since the boyfriend didn't want the woman's family to know about the abortion, he'd spoken to them and told them that he'd been treating "Sheryl" for gynecological problems. They asked him flat out if she'd had an abortion, and he told her no, Carol said.

Harvey had done damage control, Carol said. Nobody at the hospital would say anything to anybody about the death; Harvey's private practice and the clinic would be fine as long as they could keep the story from getting any publicity. And, Carol said, Harvey and his girlfriend carefully edited the patient chart before providing it to the medical examiner's office.

The autopsy found that "Sheryl" had died of hemorrhaging from a cervical tear. At this news, Carol said, "I went numb:"

We could have saved Sheryl's life! my mind screamed. We only needed to have sutured her cervix. We had everything we needed in the clinic to save Sheryl's life, with one exception -- a doctor willing to take the time to re-examine his patient to determine the cause of the bleeding. But he had a date, and the margaritas were waiting.

Trust But Verify

Prolifers tend to believe Carol's story. Scoffers dismiss it. But there's another course besides uncritical acceptance and contemptuous dismissal: Looking into the story and seeing if it's true.

At Life Dynamics, we knew we couldn't just use the story out of Carol's book when we did our research for Lime 5. We needed a "secular" source -- something more than a prolifer claiming that something had happened. So, as we did with all prolifer reports of deaths, we started searching for a public record document to verify Carol's story.

We knew that Carol's abortion facilities were in Dallas. Elsewhere in Blood Money, Carol indicated that as of January of 1982, she was still proud of her clinics, which had recently expanded to doing later abortions. Elsewhere she said that to celebrate the boost in business that accompanied the expansion into later abortions, she bought a new car on March 2, 1982. The next date we can get a clue from is Harvey's marriage, which takes place in February of the following year. The woman Carol called "Sheryl" must have taken place in 1982, then.

We stared searching all public record sources in the Dallas metroplex area for an abortion death in 1982. And we found it:

Autopsy Report Case No. 0120-82-0057 on 34-year-old Shary Graham indicates that she was pronounced dead January 16, 1982, at an emergency room in Dallas. She had a 3cm tear in her cervix. "It is our opinion that Shary... died as a result of a laceration of the uterine cervix. By history, she had undergone a termination of pregnancy procedure the day prior to the death. Evidence of bleeding included large amounts of blood on three cloth robes that accompanied the body, and hemorrhage beneath the outer covering of the uterus."

The address of the facility where Shary had her abortion was the address of one of Carol's clinics.

Of course, no public record document is going to verify the story of the pitcher of margaritas. But when we consider what excuses other abortionists had for leaving patients with no medical supervision, the pitcher of margaritas is credible:

• John Biskind left Lou Ann Herron without medical supervision so that he could keep an appointment with a tailor.

• No reason was given for Abram Zelikman's decision to leave the hemorrhaging Eurice Agbagaa in the care of a receptionist.
• Tommy Tucker seems to have left Angela Hall with no doctor to care for her because he'd had a fight with the nurse about whether or not to call an ambulance.

• Nareshkumar Gandalal was reprimanded by the Oklahoma medical board for leaving a patient "in post-operative condition in the treatment room under anesthesia" on June 10, 1989, so that he could take a friend to the airport. 

Carol places the responsibility for the death of the woman she calls Sheryl not only on abortionist Harvey Johnson's shoulders, but squarely on her own. Carol herself began laying the groundwork for what would happen to "Sheryl" with a business decision to do later abortions because of their higher profit margin.

Early 10th Century Chicago: A Habitual Killer and a Mysterious Midwife

On January 17, 1912, 38-year-old homemaker Minnie Miller died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated on January 2 by Dr.Charles W. Klinetop. Klinetop was identified by Coroner's Verdict on January 26. Minnie's husband Julius is the one who identified Klinetop as the guilty party, and Minnie also named Klinetop in her deathbed statement. While Klinetop was awaiting trial -- which was delayed due to a crowded docket -- in Minnie's death, a woman called the police from Lake Shore Hospital, reporting that there was a woman there "dying from an abortion." The police suspected that Klinetop was involved, but before they arrived at the hospital the woman, identified as Grace Smith, had been spirited away under mysterious circumstances. Klinetop was also implicated in the 1917 abortion death of Edna Lamb and the 1923 abortion death of Lydia Nelson.

On January 23, 1914, 17-year-old Helen Kleich, who worked as a domestic servant, died at Cook County Hospital from sepsis, arising from an abortion perpetrated on January 17 by midwife Margared Wiedemann. Wiedemann was held by the Coroner for murder by abortion, but was acquitted.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.

Three Illegal Abortions

A Media Circus in 1889

An inquest was held into the January 16, 1889 death of 22-year-old Kitty Cody, a young Oyster Bay woman, in Brooklyn. Frank P. Dudgeon had set Kitty up in Mrs. Anyon's house at 85 West Eighty-Ninth Street. Kitty took sick there. Mrs. Anyon, testified that Dudgeon had sent a box to Kitty, along with "a letter from him explaining the use of the contents of the box." The box evidently contained abortifacients. Kitty died at the apartment of Mrs. M. A. Harriman at 124 Flatbush Avenue.

The inquest was a circus, "held in the Supervisor's chamber, which was literally packed with spectators. It was replete with dramatic incidents, with some of which the crowd expressed its sympathies with the prosecution by breaking into applause." Mrs. Harriman attended the inquest with her daughter, Mrs. Clara Fernald. Dr. Charles F. Hall and Mrs. M. A. Flarriman were found to be complicit in concealing the commission of an abortion. 

The prosecutor's office concluded that Kitty, provided with the abortion drugs, had attempted an abortion, then used an instrument provided to her to perform a self-induced abortion. On May 21, she had gone to a doctor who cared for her until hospitalizing her on June 6. While hospitalized she'd said something that had led to the belief that Dr. Charles Singley had perpetrated an abortion. Singley, when arrested, said that Kitty was trying to blackmail him. His only contact with her had been, he said, when she'd come to his office for treatment for a pelvic abscess. He'd treated her, she'd paid her $2, and left. This had been about a month prior to seeking care from the doctor who had hospitalized her.

Dudgeon married Kitty the day before her death. He was tried as an accessory to manslaughter in Kitty's death, but in April of 1889 "escaped conviction by a disagreement of the jury, which stood eight to four for conviction of manslaughter in the first degree." He was released on $10,000 bail, which he was able to pay himself in cash. In fact, so prosperous was Dudgeon that he managed to arrange a lavish birthday banquet for himself while he was in jail. However, in July of 1890, the DA of Kings County dismissed the indictment.

Early 20th Century Chicago

On January 16, 1901, 20-year-old Jennie Mallard died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed several weeks earlier. She signed a statement about three hours later incriminating Dr. Margaret Simmons, who was arrested and held in the death. Simmons would neither confirm nor deny the allegation. Simmons' profession is listed as nurse or midwifein the Homicide in Chicago database, but at that time and in that place, female obstetricians were often referred to as midwives. On the 1900 Census, she is listed as a physician.

Jennie Martin, a 28-year-old homemaker married to Frank Martin, died January 16, 1906 from sepsis caused by a criminal abortion. Though the Homicide in Chicago Database says she died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago, her death certificate indicates that she died at her home at 3555 Vincentles Avenue. My best guess is that she was died at the home but was taken to the hospital by family members who were in shock, and then the hospital reported the suspicious death to the police. Dr. William F. Brineywas held by the coroner's jury. Jennie's abortion is typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.

From 1907 to 1989, Abortions Prove Equally Fatal

Midwife's Fatal Work, Chicago, 1907

On January 15, 1907, 24-year-old housekeeper Sarah Cushing died in Wesley Hospital in Chicago, from septicemia caused by a criminal abortion perpetrated on December 29 at the home of a midwife named Gertrude Plenz, who was arrested on January 24, and held by the coroner's jury. Mrs. Plenz was also arrested in the abortion death ofMargaret McCarthy in 1904.

Tip-Off to Coroner Reveals 1915 Chicago Abortion Death

On January 15, 1915, 22-year-old Margaret Jenickes died in Chicago. Somebody tipped off the coroner that there was something fishy about Margaret's death. "Mourners over the girl's body were surprised by a visit from Coroner's Physician Springer. He performed an autopsy and changed the death report from dilation of the heart to peritonitis." The cornoer's office declared that the infection had been caused by an abortion presumably perpetrated by Dr. C.A. Erickson. Erickson was charged with murder; a man named Joseph Martin was also held for manslaughter. Though Erickson was indicted on February 1, the case never went to trial because the men were exonerated by a Grand Jury. No other suspect in Margaret's death is mentioned in my sources. I've been unable to determine why Erickson was a suspect.

1923: Dr. Charles Klinetop's Second Dead Abortion Patient

On October 16, 1923, 19-year-old Mrs. Lydia Nelson died at Chicago's Englewood Hospital from an abortion performed there that day, evidently by Dr. Charles Klinetop. On January 15, 1924, Klinetop was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder in Lydia's death. Back in 1912, he had been identified by a coroner's jury as the doctor responsible for the abortion death of Minnie Miller. Lydia's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Midwife's Fatal Efforts, Chicago, 1926

On December 13, 1926, 23-year-old Chicago native Mary Paradowski underwent a criminal abortion.
She died on December 20 at Chicago Hospital. On January 15, 1927, midwife Josephine Petrova was indicted for felony murder in Mary's death. Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.

Dangerous and Obsolete Abortion Method Kills Teen in 1986

Christella Forte, age 16, screamed, convulsed, and went into cardiac arrest 27 hours after instillation of saline for an abortion. at New Centre Hospital in Detroit on January 14, 1986. She died without ever expelling the 23-week fetus.The concentrated salt solution that had been injected into Christella's uterus to kill the fetus got into her bloodstream, poisoning her and causing cardiac arrest. Strangely, her death certificate lists her manner of death as "natural," rather than "accidental," indicating an odd judgment call on the medical examiner's behalf.

A medical journal article that appears to be about Christella's death says that she was an obese Black girl experiencing her first pregnancy. The article gives the gestational age as 21.5 weeks. Nothing seemed to have gone wrong with the injection, until 26 hours afterward when she "complained of severe abdominal cramps with projectile expulsion of amniotic fluid. Generalized convulsions and shaking followed and the patient went into shock. Death occurred within 2 hours."

"At autopsy, microscopic examination of lungs revealed pulmonary edema with marked vascular congestion..... Positive test results ... confirmed a diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism. There was marked congestion of the blood vessels of the kidneys, liver, brain, and spleen."

What is particularly disgusting about Christella's death is how utterly needless it was: saline abortions had been discredited as far too dangerous for over a decade. The documents surrounding her death do not explain why her abortionist chose an outdated, high-risk procedure for his young patient.

Screw-Up Instantly Kills Abortion Patient in 1987

Thirty-eight-year-old Pamela Wainwright and her husband had two children living at home, one of whom had Down Syndrome. Pamela was admitted to Shallowford Community Hospital in Dunwoody, Georgia on January 15, 1987, for an abortion and tubal ligation. Pamela was 11 weeks pregnant. Pamela was taken to the operating room for her surgery the next day. The abortion and tubal ligation were to be performed by Dr. Wendell Phillips. Phillips placed a needle into Pamela's abdomen to pump in carbon dioxide. He did not ensure proper placement of the needle. Instead of pumping carbon dioxide into her abdomen, he pumped it into her bloodstream. Pamela died almost immediately from cardiac arrest, due to vapor lock in her heart.

Patient Left to Bleed Out in Care of Receptionist in 1989

Eurice Agbagaa, a 26-year-old immigrant from Ghana, went to Abram Zelikman for a safe, legal abortion on January 7, 1989. Zelikman estimated the pregnancy as 11 to 12 12 weeks. He performed the abortion at about 1pm, then sent Eurice to the recovery room. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, Eurice bled so heavily that the receptionist, Yolanda Penalzer, became alarmed and asked Zelikman to do something. Zelikman told her that the bleeding was normal and that she should put an ice bag on the patient. He then left the facility, leaving Yolada to care for the patients in recovery.

Yolanda continued to be concerned about Eurice's bleeding, and tried repeatedly to reach Zelikman at his home, but couldn't contact him. Finally she called an ambulance. The ambulance crew found Yolanda performing CPR on Eurice, who was in shock. They were able to restore her breathing and transport her to a hospital, where an emergency hysterecomy was done. It was determined that Eurice had actually been at least 19 weeks pregnant. Eurice had a perforated uterus and severed abdominal artery. Eurice survived the surgery and was put on life support, but remained in a coma until her death in the early morning of January 15.

Eurice isn't the only woman who ended up having an abortion far later in the pregnancy than she intended. read more about **Unintended Late Abortions**.

One of Brigham's Buddies Caught On Video Abusing Woman

Operation Rescue's headline, "Caught on Video: Abortionist Attacks Girlfriend During Forced Abortion Attempt, " is a bit off-kilter, implying that the video was taken during the attempted forced abortion. But that doesn't hide the reality -- that a cell phone video caught a man attacking a woman. Documents affirm that the boyfriend, abortion doctor Eric Yahav, was abusing the woman and trying to force her into an unwanted abortion.





“I feel like no one will help me. He has all the money, power, and status . . . This man is making a lot of money performing abortions. How can he be trusted to protect a woman who feels forced into abortion when he didn’t respect me, pregnant with his baby, enough not to hurt me,” she wrote in an e-mail to the people who finally gave her guidance and support -- Operation Rescue.

With OR's encouragement and support, she was able to finally, 20 weeks into her pregnancy, get a protection order against the stalwart supporter of women's reproductive health who was trying to force her into an unwanted abortion.

Eric Yahav

Read the police documents, courtesy of Operation Rescue and redacted to protect the woman's privacy, here: Protective Order-Yahav 12112015. Among the contents is her first person account:

Since becoming pregnant Eric Yahav has become verbally & physically abusive because he does not want me to continue pregnancy. He woks as an abortionist & over 6 weeks made 4 appointments for me to have an abortion. Each time when I refused to go he became violent & threatened to kick me & my son out of the house. He threatened if I did not have an abortion he would “make my life hell & I could watch & see what he did to me.”

On 12/4/15 he took his kids to school & returned home & demanded I go to his work to get an abortion. I refused & he attacked me several times. He pushed me down stairs & attempted to drag me out of the house. He slapped & kicked me. I dialed 911 & he grabbed my phone. He left for work. 

He returned at about 2:30 pm with his sister & began to verbally abuse myself &; my son & I called police. I am afraid he will do whatever it takes to make sure I do not have this baby.
….
He has taken my car & left the house without money & food in effort to make me have an abortion. He took me to his abortion office & had them open after hours, telling the office manager I had a miscarriage &; he needed to perform a D&E on me. I refused. …. He verbally abused & harassed my 8 year old son until he was in tears and hyperventilating.

Brigham under arrest in 2012

Yahav has an unsavory background completely independent of his relationship with the mother of his unborn child. He works for Steven Chase Brigham, an abortion practitioner and entrepreneur whose reputation is so nasty that even abortion-rights folks like RH RealityCheck want to poke him away with a sharp stick.

Here's hoping that more prochoicers catch up with RH Reality Check's jaundiced view of Brigham and his associates -- and that they start noticing that some of the "rogue" practitioners are actually nestled snugly in the bosom of standard American abortion practice.

Two Early 20th Century Deaths in Chicago

Little Known on the Death of Rauha Wilen

On January 13, 1911, 27-year-old homemaker Rauha Wilen died at Chicago's Augusta Hospital of peritonitis caused by an abortion. Midwife Mary Rominel was arrested and indicted by a grand jury.

Chicago Doc Out on Bail Perpetrates Second Fatal Abortion

Dr. Arthur Blung

On January 13, 1915, 23-year-old motion picture actress Beulah Rehm died at Wesley Hospital after an abortion perpetrated at Dr. Arthur L. Blunt's Chicago practice.

Beulah had been at the Plymouth Hotel when she took ill on Christmas Eve. Her doctor, Dr. Andre Stapler, sent her to the hospital. Stapler and other staff were suspicious and questioned Beulah about the cause of her problems. She admitted to Springer, and then to police, that she had gone to Blunt's West Harrison Street practice three times during the week of December 13 for abortion attempts.

Blunt was brought to the hospital, where he was identified by Beulah as her abortionist. blunt denied ever having seen Beulah before. He was held by the Coroner but the case never went to trial.

Blunt had committed the abortion on Beulah while still out on bail for the 1913 abortion death of Frances Odochowski.
.
Aged 61 at the time of Beulah's death, Blunt had also been arrested at least twice for drug trafficking.

Repeat Offenders Continue to Cost Women their Lives

Chicago, 1900 and 1909: Repeat Offenders Cause Abortion Deaths

On January 12, 1900, Ida Henry, age 26, died at the home she shared with Dr. Paulina Bechtel, from complications of an abortion Bechtel had performed on her there that day. Bechtel, who said that she'd been practicing medicine for 18 years, was held by the Coroner's Jury. An undertaker had embalmed Ida's body prior to a post-mortem examination. He was censured for this compromising of evidence that would be found in the body, but was not charged with any crime. Ida's abortion was typical of pre-legal abortions in that it was performed by a physician. Bechtel had been tried in the October 3, 1895 abortion death of Mrs. Kittie Bassett. She was also implicated in the death of Barbara Shelgrenshortly after Ida's death, but was identified as a midwife in that case. According to Leslie Reagan, author of When Abortion Was a Crime, it was common for female physicians to be misidentified as midwives, particularly if they practiced obstetrics. Bechtel went on to kill Mary Thorning in 1911. 

On January 12, 1909, Florence Wright, a 34-year-old Black woman born in Kentucky, died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from nitrous oxide asphyxiation while being treated for complications of an illegal abortion perpetrated on January 3, 1909. Midwife Louisa Achtenberg, a white woman, was held without bail for the crime of murder by abortion. She was indicted for murder but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial. Achtenberg appears to have been implicated as well in the abortion deaths of Dora Swan in 1907, Stella Kelly in 1909, Violet McCormick in 1921, and Madelyn Anderson in 1924. For more abortion deaths in the 1900s, click here.

Safe and Legal in 1980

Shirley Williams was 30 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion in January of 1980. She suffered from infection and hemorrhage after her abortion. On January 12, 1980, she was pronounced dead from hemorrhage.

Legalized Abortionist Causes Second Patient Death, 1980

Milan Vuitch

Also on January 12, 1980, 32-year-old Jeannie English went to the clinic of former criminal abortionist Milan Vuitch (pictured), who had been operating his clinic without a license for two years. Vuitch administered general anesthesia for Jeannie, and she never woke up. She was transported to a nearby hospital where she died. Vuitch settled with Jeannie's family for $150,000. When Vuitch was investigated, it was discovered that he kept patients overnight in his home (an unlicensed facility) which he designated "The Annexe." Inspectors also noted repeated violations of medical standards regarding sanitation and anesthesia. Vuitch also admitted during another case that he had lacked hospital admitting privileges since 1963. Vuitch was also responsible for the 1974 abortion death of 17-year-old Wilma Harris. Vuitch is one of three abortionists I know of who started out as criminal abortionists with clean records -- no patient deaths attributed to them -- who went on to kill two patient by performing the supposedly safer legal abortions. They are Jesse Ketchum (Margaret Smith and Carole Schaner) and Benjamin Munson (Linda Padfield and Yvonne Mesteth).

2005: Two Prochoice Heroes, One Dead Teenager

Christin Gilbert

Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman with Down syndrome, was brought from Texas to George Tiller's Wichita abortion facility for a presumably safe and legal late abortion on January 10, 2005. Christin was legally incompetent, unable to give her consent. Like all Tiller late abortion patients, ostensibly so sick that their pregnancies endanger their lives or health, Christin spent the bulk of her time during the abortion process at a motel, in the care of her family. 

On January 12, Tiller's staff diagnosed Christin as being "dehydrated". She was given IV fluids then sent back to the motel. She had numerous episodes of vomiting, and lost consciousness several times. Rather than call an ambulance or take her to the hospital, Christin's family waited until morning and took her to Tiller's clinic. There she went into cardiac arrest. Tiller employee Marguerite Reed called 911, telling the operator that Christin was alert although LeRoy Carhart was performing CPR on a clinically dead patient. His efforts to revive her were so amateurish that EMS workers assumed that he was a bystander rather than a physician. 

Ambulance staff resuscitated Christin, then transported her to the hospital. She was pumped full of antibiotics to try to treat the underlying sepsis that evidently had caused the cardiac arrest, but to no avail. She died that day of systemic organ failure.

LeRoy Carhart

Christin's was not the only tragic death caused by doctors who recommended (or excused) abortion as a life-saving or health-preserving option for the mother:

• Allegra Roseberry was pushed into an abortion in order to obtain experimental cancer treatment.
• Anjelica Duarte sought an abortion on the advice of her physician, and ended up dying under the care of a quack.
• Barbara Hoppert died after an abortion recommended due to a congenital heart problem.
• Erika Peterson died in 1961 when her doctors obtained her husband‘s permission to perform a "therapeutic" abortion.
• "Molly" Roe died in 1975 when her doctors made the dubious decision to perform a saline abortion to improve her chances of surviving a lupus crisis.

Half a Century of Chicago Deaths

Three Early 20th Century Deaths

On January 10, 1907, homemaker Ellen White, a 36-year-old Irish immigrant, died of shock and hemorrhage in her Chicago home from an abortion perpetrated about a week before Christmas. A midwife named Emma Watchek was arrested in the death.

On January 10, 1913, 31-year-old homemaker Lizzie Orenstein died at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated by a person who was never identified.

On January 10, 1917, 23-year-old clerk Tillie Vrzal died at Chicago's Frances Willard Hospital from peritonitis because of an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.


Deadly Chicago Doctor of the Mid-20th Century

Marie O'Malley, age 36, died on January 10, 1942 after an abortion blamed on notorious Chicago abortionist Dr. Emil Gleitsman, age 76. Marie, a mother of six, had gone to Gleitsman's office with two friends on January 5.  Gleitsman insisted that he had only been treating her for peritonitis for an abortion she'd already undergone before coming to him. However, two other women that Gleitsman performed abortions on testified that he had indeed perpetrated the fatal abortion, for which she'd paid $50.

While awaiting trial for Marie's death, Gleitsman was also held culpable during an inquest into the abortion death of a woman I call Maggie Doe. He was convicted in murder in Marie's death and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Gleitsman appealed on the grounds that he'd had an incompetent attorney, but the court ruled that he'd used the same lawyer before and thus had plenty of opportunity to judge him incompetent prior to the trail in Marie's death. Gleitsman was also implicated in the abortion deaths of Lucille van Iderstine, Jeanette Reder, and Mary Colbert,.

Illegal in Chicago, Safe and Legal in Detroit

Illegal in Chicago, 1918

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

Safe and Legal in Detroit, 2004

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Doctor in 1901, a Mystery in 1922

On January 7, 1901, 21-year-old Juliet Pottinger died in her home at 520 Wood St., Chicago, from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Maggie Becker was arrested April 24, based on a coroner's verdict that day. Becker was held to grand jury, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 14 years in Joilet Penitentiary. It had taken the jury five hours to reach the verdict. Though the actual deathbed statement Juliet had given was not admitted as evidence, both Juliet's husband and her mother were permitted to testify about things Juliet had said to them before dying. Juliet's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

The January 7, 1922 death of Irene Michaelson of Philadelphia presents ground for head-scratching. Irene reportedly died of peritonitis at City Hospital in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after leaping from the second-story window of the Bricker Sanitarium, "in the heart of the most exclusive residential section of Atlantic City." Dr. William H. Bricker Jr., of Philadelphia and Atlantic City, was captured in Philadelphia. At trial, he, was found guilty of performing the abortion that killed Irene and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, and fined $5,000. News coverage says, "Bricker collapsed when sentence was pronounced." Now I must research a bit more about who Irene was, and why she jumped.

Dumped Body 1905, Midwife's Fatal Work 1923

On January 6, 1905, a young woman was found dead in a ditch near Dunning, Illinois. The hunters who had stumbled across the body quickly notified the police. The dead woman was taken to an undertaking establishment, where it remained until nearly a month later, when she was identified by her siblings as 28-year-old Ida Vierow, who had been employed as a domestic servant in the home of former County Commissioner O. D. Allen. She had been missing since leaving the Allen home on January 1, telling the Allens that she was going to visit her parents in St. Louis, though her parents actually lived on a farm near Proviso. It was determined that she had died January 6, 1905, from an abortion performed in Chicago. Two midwives, Amella Maichrowicz and Anna Becker, were arrested, along with Maichrowicz's husband, Joseph. The Maichrowiczs, who ran an unlicensed hospital in Melrose Park, were arrested near the end of February. Click here for more abortion deaths in the 1900s.


On December 30, 1923, 26-year-old Helen Koss underwent an illegal abortion somewhere in Chicago. On January 6, 1924, she died at Norwegian American Hospital of complications. Midwife Mrs. Emma Morch was arrested, and indicted for homicide by a grand jury. Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. Click here for more abortion deaths in the 1920s.