April 10, 1924: Mystery Death in Wyoming

All I have is a single card to commemorate the April 10, 1924 death of 34-year-old Mrs. Katherina Mueller. She died in Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, Wyoming of septicemia following a self-induced abortion.

Watch Just One Card on YouTube

April 8, 1928: Woman Collapses at Work, Dies from Criminal Abortion

On April 8, 1928, 26-year-old clerk Mildred Jakobsen, a Chicago native and daughter of Norwegian immigrants, "took sick" at work. She died there before she could be taken to a hospital. 

On May 4, the Cook County coroner concluded that Mildred had died from complications of a criminal abortion, and recommended the identification and arrest of the person or persons responsible. 

Nobody was ever held accountable for Mildred's death.

Watch Woman Collapses and Dies at Work on YouTube.

April 7, 1896: A Cry in the Night

On the evening of Monday, April 6, 1896, Tillie Karcher heard moaning in the flat of seamstress Millie Meyers, just upstairs of her at 415 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn. She listened again and heard a young female voice crying out, "Oh, let me go home to my mama!"

Alarmed, Mrs. Karchner sought out a policeman on his rounds, who went to the apartment and found a young woman there, ailing and alone. The girl gave her name as Mrs. Emily Scott and said that her husband, Ollie Scott, was a fireman on a Fulton ferry.

The policeman found prescription bottles in the room, so he copied the information from them and went to the pharmacy that had prepared them. The pharmacist said that the medicines were common ones used in treating fevers.

The policeman considered all these goings-on to be fishy, so he reported the situation to the precinct captain, who began an investigation to identify and round up everybody involved in the young woman's suspicious illness.

Around 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon, April 7, the young woman said that she was going to die soon, told the police that her real name was Emily Binney and gave them her address on Rutledge Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Emily's turn for the worse sent the police rushing for the coroner, leaving the ailing girl in the care of Minnie Meyer. The coroner arrived to find that Miss Meyer had abandoned Emily, leaving her to die alone in the intervening half hour.

Meyer was eventually apprehended and admitted that she'd helped 20-year-old Emily to seek out the abortion services of 33-year-old midwife Mary Schott and had herself been engaged to look after the patient.

A police officer went to the Fulton ferry house and managed to identify "Ollie Scott" as Arthur Robbins, who was arrested when he showed up at Meyer's flat to look for Emily at 10:00 that evening.

While the suspects were being questioned, Minnie said that Emily's baby had been born alive on March 21. Upon hearing that, Robbins burst into tears and told police that about four hours after the child's birth he had wrapped the baby in newspapers weighted down with a piece of iron and thrown it out a porthole in the ferry. He couldn't say if the baby had still been alive when it was tossed into the river.

Arthur Robbins then admitted that he had gone with Emily and Minnie to arrange for Mrs. Schott to perform an abortion.

Minnie Meyer was found guilty of manslaughter. I've been unable to determine the outcome of the case against the midwife.

Watch A Cry in the Night on YouTube.

Sources:

• “Criminal Malpractice,” undated clipping from North Towanda Evening News
• “Criminal Malpractice,” Courtland Standard, Apr.9, 1896
• “Four Arrests,” Bay City Times, Apr. 8, 1896
• “Four Under Arrest,” The New York Herald, Apr. 9, 1896
• "Caused a Rich Girl's Death," Salem (OHO Daily News, April 9, 1896
• “Mrs. Meyer Found Guilty,” New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 16, 1896
• “Died Among Strangers,” New York Herald, Apr. 8, 1896
• “A School Girl’s Fate,” York (PA) Semi-Weekly Gazette, Apr. 11, 1896
• “Robbins Goes Free,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 27, 1896

April 6, 1906: Malpractice Prompts Midwife's Suicide Attempt

SUMMARY: On April 6, 1906, 22-year-old homemaker Bessie Braun died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Julia Gibson.

Michael Reese Hospital

The Wards at Michael Reese Hospital

Were there really wards full of women dying from botched septic abortions in the days before legalization? Dr. Julius Lackner of Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago reflected on what he saw there from 1900 to 1914. Five hundred women were treated at this charity hospital for septic abortions — both criminal abortions and miscarriages — during those fifteen years. Of those 500 women, there were only four deaths.

I have verified that two of them were indeed criminal abortion patients: Lizzie Orenstein and Bessie Braun.

Bessie's Death

Bessie, a 22-year-old homemaker, mother of two, and immigrant from Austria, died at Michael Reese on April 6, 1906. Both verbally and in writing, Bessie named midwife Julia Gibson as the person who had perpetrated the abortion, for a $5 fee, on March 20. It was hardly surprising that Bessie’s abortion had been perpetrated by somebody with medical training, since the majority of Chicago abortions in that era were done by either doctors or midwives, who ran thinly veiled advertisements in the newspapers.

Bessie’s husband, Abraham, testified at the inquest. He said that he had not known anything about an abortion until Bessie became seriously ill on Sunday, though she remained at home until Thursday, when she finally was hospitalized.

He also said that prior to her death, Bessie told him that she had written the guilty midwife’s name and address on a piece of paper which was in the bed at their home. Abraham found the paper and turned it over to authorities during the inquest.

Attempted Suicide

Gibson, who had been at Bessie’s bedside during the declaration, was being escorted out of the hospital by police when she asked to go to the women’s dressing room in the hospital basement. She was permitted to go in while a police officer stood guard outside the door.

The officer soon heard a shot, then forced the door and found Gibson lying on the floor suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. She was admitted to the hospital for treatment and was kept both under arrest and under suicide watch. As she lay near death, Gibson confessed her guilt. She later recovered.

Not Her First Dead Patient

Gibson had previously been indicted for the November, 1905 abortion death of 18-year-old Dorothy Spuhr, who had died at County Hospital.

Watch Midwife Attempts Suicide, Admits Guilt on YouTube.

Sources:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
• Death certificate
• “Seeks Death to Escape the Law,” Chicago Tribune, Apr. 7, 1906
• “Midwife is Held; Murder Charged,” Chicago Tribune, Apr. 8, 1906
• “Wife Dead; Midwife Dying,” Chicago Inter Ocean, Apr. 8, 1906
• “Attempt at Suicide Fails,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, Apr. 9, 1906

April 5, 2001: Haley's Post-Abortion Journey Ends Tragically

 Dear Lord,

I sit here alone with my thoughts wondering if you will ever forgive me. Why do I continue to fail you? I'm failing you because I‘m turning away from the precious gift of having a child. A child. A breathing, living, beautiful life that I created but too selfish to accept from you. Will you still love me as a child of yours? Will I still love me after today?

Haley‘s journal - Oct. 23, 2000

On April 5, 2001, Donetta Robben‘s 22-year-old niece didn't show up for work. Her friend Rosa drove over to check on her, and her car wasn't there. Rosa called the girl‘s father, Edwin. Had she gone home to visit her family?

Edwin later said he just knew that his daughter was dead. He called the Omaha police, and he called his daughter's landlord. They went to the apartment. They found her body.

Though the coroner estimated that the young woman had been dead for several days, all official documents, and the young woman‘s tombstone, use the April 5th date. So will I.

In telling her niece's story, Donetta decided to use the name ‘Haley Mason‘ rather than her niece‘s real name. In respect for the family‘s desire to grieve privately, I‘m using the name Donetta uses. Likewise, I use the pseudonyms Donetta uses for friends and family members.

The official ruling was that Haley‘s death was an accidental overdose. Her family was stunned as the investigators spoke with them, revealing the discoveries made while looking into the young woman‘s death. Isolated words echoed in their minds: death, journals, death, pills, death, drinking, death, hurt, death, abortion...

Abortion?

Abortion.

The answers to how Haley went from happy-go-lucky college student to suicide statistic weren't in the official reports. They were found in Haley‘s journals, where she poured her heart out in the final months of her life.

The story of how Haley died begins when she fell in love with Todd. She found out she was pregnant and told him. He wanted her to get an abortion.

LeRoy Carhart's clinic in Belleview, Nebraska

Haley was a student at the University of Nebraska. She worked two jobs to meet her expenses. Unmarried, without much money, and with a disapproving boyfriend, Haley saw abortion as her only option. She made her appointment at the Bellevue, Nebraska practice of  Dr. Leroy Carhart. It was late October of 2000.

Haley wrote of Todd‘s attitude: "I must let him abandon me. He doesn't care about me. I know he‘s only agreed to pay for it to ease his own guilt."

Haley found the abortion stressful: the wait, the sounds, the crude and uncaring behavior of the doctor. Haley had been told to arrive at the clinic at 7:00 in the morning, but it was ten hours before she was finally on the table, ready for the abortion. Carhart walked into the room, clad in a dirty coat and glasses so smeared that Haley‘s friend, who had accompanied her, wondered how he could even see through the lenses.

Haley, in her fog of medication, tried to make a joke. "Don‘t hurt me down there?" she said. 

"Be still and I won‘t," Carhart replied.

While performing the vacuum abortion, Carhart spouted profanities. He told Haley and her friend that he was tired. He‘d been speaking in California the day before, and had just flown into Omaha that morning.

After the abortion, Haley felt violated, as if she‘d been raped. She also experienced continued spotting into January. She'd not been given a follow-up appointment, and didn't know if the bleeding was normal or not. She didn't want to go to another doctor, because she‘d have to tell him about the abortion, and that was just too painful to talk about. The bleeding was a constant reminder of the death of her unborn baby.

Haley told few people about the abortion: three close friends and two relatives. But she didn't tell them of her struggle to cope with the emotional pain. She kept telling herself that she‘d done the best thing. But she started punishing herself, and pushed away anybody who tried to love her. She didn't feel that she deserved their love.

Haley longed for a knight in shining armor to rescue her from the prison of her grief, but she no longer felt comfortable with men. She had to get drunk to be able to endure sex. And even then, it reminded her of the abortion. Todd came by at early hours, looking for sex. Haley submitted, but her heart wasn't in it. She no longer felt loved. She felt used.

The drinking got worse. Hot baths and quick jogs provided temporary relief from the anguish, but it always returned.

Finally, Haley could stand it no more.

First, she drank plenty of numbing alcohol. Then, she went into her living room and grabbed a precious photo of her late mother and maternal grandfather. Next, a bottle of vodka. A bottle of aspirin. An old prescription bottle of Benadryl. Haley washed the drugs down with the vodka, leaving the three bottles next to the photograph.

She went into the bedroom. She put her rosary around her neck. She set an empty holy water bottle on her dresser. She opened her journal to the day of the abortion. She lay down, head on her pillow, looking for the  rest she couldn't find any more in living, leaving her family to sort out their own pain. 

Other post-abortion suicides include:

• Carol Cunningham, age 21, who shut herself in her garage, ran her car, and died from the exhaust fumes in August of 1986
• Arlin della Cruz, age 19, who hanged herself in the woods near her house in October of 1992
• Laura Grunas, age 30, who shot her baby’s father and then herself in August of 2006
• “Sandra Roe,” age 18, who killed herself using an unidentified means in April of 1971
• Sandra Kaiser, age 15, who threw herself off an overpass into traffic in November of 1984
• Stacy Zallie, age 20, who committed suicide in October of 2002

Watch Haley's Journey From Abortion to Suicide on YouTube.

April 4, 1985: First of Two Deaths at Hands of Gambling Addicted Doctor

Mary Bradley, an Alabama resident, was 41 and a mother of four when she underwent a 20-week abortion at the hands of Dr. George Wayne Patterson in March of 1985.

Soon after, Mary was losing blood. She was admitted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile and her bleeding was described as “abnormal” and “uncontrollable”. Doctors performed a hysterectomy on March 28, 1985 in an attempt to save Mary, but she had developed a blood clotting disorder and respiratory problems as a result of the abortion. She died on April 4, 1985.

Like a disproportionate number of women who die in safe and legal abortions, Mary was black.

Less than a year after he killed Mary and her baby, Patterson k

George Wayne Patterson

illed another abortion patient, Janyth Caldwell.

Patterson was shot to death in 1993 near his car outside of an X-rated movie theater. At first, abortion-rights groups treated Patterson's death as martyrdom for one who provided "vital reproductive health care." They never mentioned the two dead women. Police confirmed later that the killer, Winston McCoy, was a violent felon who was on parole after serving time for a violent home robbery and sexual assault. Patterson's killing had been a botched robbery attempt. News coverage revealed that Patterson was a rather unsavory character who had accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in debts to illegal bookies. His name gradually vanished from the Rolls of the Holy Martyrs among the prochoice.

Watch Deadly Doc Dies Deplorably on YouTube.

Sources:

• Alabama Certificate of Death # 85-10613
• Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Autopsy Report # 27(A)-85-31536
• Circuit Court for Monroe County, Alabama Case, CV-85-54

April 3, 1935: The Second of Dr. Justin Mitchell's Known Deaths

Dr. Justin Mitchell

On February 12, 1936, Dr. Justin Mitchell, age 57, of Chicago was convicted of manslaughter in the April 3, 1935 abortion death of 32-year-old Mary Nowalowski.  Eleven days before his conviction, another of Mitchell's patients, Alice Haggin, died from abortion complications. Two years earlier, Mitchell had been implicated in the abortion death of Mary Schwartz.

According to death records, Mary was an assembler at a Western Electric factory.

The prime witness in Mary's case was milk wagon driver Stephen Zakes. He and Mary were planning a wedding for the upcoming May.  On March 27, Stephen brought Mary to the Chicago office of Dr. Victor J. Neale. He then met with the couple together, telling them that Mary was between two and two and a half months pregnant. Mary began to cry and ask Neale, "What will I do?"

Stephen testified that Neale had referred them to Dr. Justin Mitchell; Neale insisted that he had simply told them they could go to some busy corner and find an abortionist.

Stephen and Mary went to Mitchell's office on the evening of Friday, March 29. Mitchell examined Mary and confirmed that she was pregnant. She was at least eight weeks along, Mitchell said, and if she returned the following morning at 8:00 he would perform an abortion. The fee would be $50. He assured them that there was no danger for Mary to undergo the procedure.

Stephen Zakes went to Mitchell's office at around 11:00 the morning of Saturday, March 30 to see how Mary was doing after the abortion. "She will be all right, she is in a little pain right now." Stephen went to see Mary himself and found her to be in excruciating pain, unable to even sit up. Mitchell insisted to him, "They are all weak after an operation of that kind."

Stephen escorted Mary home. She was weak and chilly. They stopped at a drug store for coffee and toast, then walked to a cab stand where Mary became violently ill. After Stephen took Mary home, she immediately took to her bed. Dr. Neale was summoned to examine her. Neale provided morphine for Mary's pain before leaving. Stephen remained with her until about 1:00 in the morning on Sunday, March 31.

Somebody brought Dr. G. M. Redman to Mary's home between 4:00 and 5:00 that morning. He found Mary in such grave shape that he immediately took her to his car and drove her to the hospital.

Mary was given medicine to contract her uterus but she continued to bleed so Redman contacted the coroner's office then performed a curretage of Mary's uterus. Her cervix had already been damaged, showing tearing and pus. During the curretage, Redman retrieved the head of Mary's fetus along with retained portions of the placenta.

Redman's care notwithstanding, Mary died on Wednesday, April 3. A postmortem examination concluded that Mary's uterus had developed gangrene due to the abortion, and that she had died of hemorrhage and septic shock.

Watch Abortion Doctor's Second Dead Patient on YouTube.

Sources: 

• People v. Mitchell, Supreme Court of Illinois, 368Ill.399 (Ill. 1938)
• “Vote to Indict Physician in 2d Abortion Death,” Chicago Tribune, March 11, 1936

April 2, 1943: Physician Accused in Woman's Death

On April 2, 1943, a 31-year-old domestic servant named Ellen Haro died at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago. Before her death from a criminal abortion, she identified a doctor whose name was not given in news coverage.

For some reason the inquest was started in early April but put off until April 23.

Watch Who Was the Abortion Doctor?  on YouTube.

"Physician Hunted After Abortion Victim's Death," Chicago Daily Tribune, April 4, 1943

April 2, 1912: A Chicago Midwife?

On April 2, 1912, 25-year-old homemaker Elizabeth Jorgeson died from an abortion perpetrated that day by Katie Sauer, whose profession is not given. Sauer was held by the Coroner's Jury and indicted by a Grand Jury on November 30. The case never went to trial.

An article in the Chicago Inter-Ocean from the year before Elizabeth's death identifies a Chicago woman named Katie Sauer as a midwife. I am working to verify if the midwife and the abortionist are the same person. If the Katie Sauer implicated in Elizabeth's death is indeed this midwife, that would be typical. Abortions in Chicago in that era were most often perpetrated by either doctors or midwives.

April 1, 1934: One of Six Clustered Victims of Dr. Guy Brewer

Dr. Guy E. Brewer

Ruby Ford, a 26-year-old homemaker, died on April 1, 1934, 11 days after an abortion committed on March 20 "at the combination bachelor dwelling and office" of Dr. Guy E. Brewer, a beloved philanthropist in the small town of Graber, Oklahoma. So popular was Brewer that the husband of one of his six abortion victims was fired from his job in retaliation for reporting the death to the police.

Brewer had graduated from the University of Louisville in 1906 and had been practicing medicine in Garber for 21 of the 29 years he had been a physician. He supported young men during their university studies, maintaining houses for them to live in. Those he had educated over the years rushed immediately to his defense. Though Brewer had spent many long years helping boys and young men, his impact on women's lives was evidently lightning-fast.

I believe that Ruby was the first woman to die under Brewer's dubious care. The other dead patients are:

• Hermoine Fowler, a 20-year-old coed, who died in June of 1934
• Doris Jones, a 20-year-old mother of two, who died in April of 1935
• Wanda Lee Gray, age 20, who died around 1935
• Myrtle Rose, age 21, whose death date I've been unable to determine
• Elizabeth Shaw, age 23, whose death date I've been unable to determine

Brewer entered guilty pleas and was sentenced to six four-year sentences, to run concurrently, for the six abortion deaths.

Watch Abortion Doctor: The Six Dead Patients of Guy Brewer on YouTube.

Source:

• "Murder Charges Multiply On Philanthropic Doctor," Miami (OK) Daily News-Record, May 5, 1935

March 30 and 31, 1930: One Doctor, Two Days, Two Deaths

Gladys Anderson

During an inquest into the March 30, 1930 death of Gladys Anderson, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Illinois, word came that Cleo Hinton, a 24-year-old stenographer from Champaign, Illinois, had also died from a botched abortion. Both deaths were linked to Dr. Thomas Eade.

Cleo died in a Champaign hospital on March 31 due to peritonitis caused by an abortion. Eade was charged with murder in her death but was acquitted. Nevertheless the medical board was not satisfied and investigated to see if the evidence of his complicity was enough to revoke his license. 

Eade told the state medical board that when Cleo had come to him on March 23, he believed that she was suffering from intestinal influenza which could not have been caused by an abortion.

Watch One Doctor, Two Days, Two Dead Women on YouTube.

Newly added source: "Doctor Defends Self on Stand in State Probe," Chicago Sunday Tribune, December 14, 1930

March 29, 2015: Christi Stile Dies After Nearly 22 Years in a Vegetative State

It took her 21 years, 8 months, and 28 days to die.

Christi Stile was only 17 when she came home from roller skating with a friend. She looked shaken and distressed, but when her parents asked her what was wrong, she said that she had just had harsh words with somebody and didn't want to talk about it. Kay and Fred Stile gave the incident no more thought for a long, long time.

Four months later, Christi came to her mother and said that she was pregnant. She was crying, saying that she just couldn't have this baby; it would kill her. In retrospect, Kay said that this is what one should expect from a 17-year-old girl. But at the time, although Fred and Kay disapproved of abortion, Kay agreed to drive Christi to her abortion appointment at Aurora's Mayfair Women's Center.

To make a sad situation even sadder, the abortion was scheduled for the day after Christi's 18th birthday, July 1, 1993. Even though they'd been referred to Mayfair by a Planned Parenthood, Kay and Christi were nervous. Was abortion really safe? Kay went with Christi for the informed consent session and asked about safety. She was reassured that the only risk was of heavy bleeding, and that the clinic had everything on hand to deal with that situation should it arise. Kay felt reassured.

Kay stayed in the waiting area as Christi went back for her abortion. Suddenly, the demeanor of the staff changed. There was something wrong, Kay was sure. She was also sure that Christi was the patient who was in some sort of trouble. Kay questioned a staffer, who told her that Christi had experienced a minor complication and that she was being taken to the hospital for observation. Purely routine -- she would be discharged tomorrow. There was no cause for alarm, Kay was assured. Christi was fine; they were just being cautious.

Kay rushed to the hospital in a near panic. When she was arrived, staff told her that she couldn't see Christi until she calmed herself. Steeling her nerve, Kay steadied herself and was led to a patient's bedside.

The girl in the bed was unconscious, stuck full of tubes. Her face was swollen and distorted.

"That's not my daughter," Kay told them. But a nurse handed her a plastic bag containing Christi's jewelry. The girl in the bed was Christi.

Kay had to do the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life: call her husband and tell him he didn't have his daughter any more. She was alive, but she was no longer the same Christi.

Fred and Kay later learned what had happened at Mayfair. Abortionist Ronald Kuseski, not an anesthesiologist, had administered sedatives to Christi through her IV. After the abortion, he looked up to find Christi pale, with bluish lips, and no pulse or respiration. Her heart had stopped. Paramedics were summoned, who managed to restore Christi's pulse and respiration before rushing her to the hospital.

Fred and Kay provided care for 22 years

The clinic had no record of Christi's vital signs being recorded during the abortion. Although Kuseski's attorney insisted that the clinic had a "crash cart" to deal with cardiorespiratory arrest, Kay says that Kuseski had told her that the clinic had no "crash cart." The medical board investigation found that Kuseski didn't have pulse oximetery equipment in place for Christi's abortion. Kuseski denied any misconduct during Christi's abortion. The Medical Board sent him a "Letter of Admonition" telling him to adhere to "Anesthesia Monitoring Guidelines" in the future, and to attend CPR and Advanced Cardiac Life Support training.

Perhaps out of concern that Fred and Kay might blame Christi's boyfriend for what had happened to her, Christi's friend told them what had really happened the night she and Christi had gone skating. Christi had been so upset not because she'd had a tiff with a friend, but because an acquaintance had raped her behind the rink.

Standing at Christi's bedside during the filming of Christi's Choice, a documentary video about the family's ordeal, Fred Stile commented that had Christi had her baby instead of having the abortion, he'd be changing diapers on his grandchild instead of on his incapacitated daughter. The baby, of course, would have long since been out of diapers by the time the video was released.

Christi finally died of her lingering complications on March 29, 2015, at the age of 39. Her baby would have been 21 years old.  

Watch It Took Her Nearly 22 Years to Die on YouTube.

March 28, 2014: Lack of "TRAP" Law Kills Woman

Abortion-rights groups have been fighting to halt laws that would treat abortion clinics like ambulatory surgical centers. The abortion lobby insists that regulations such as size of doorways and hallways and elevators are just nit-picky and have nothing to do with women's well-being. What they don't want you to know is why these size requirements are included in ambulatory surgery center regulations. If a patient is having a life-threatening emergency, EMS workers need to be able to get the patient onto a gurney and perform resuscitation efforts while moving the patient from the procedure room into the ambulance.

On this date in 2014, 22-year-old Lakisha Wilsondied because a clinic was not laid out to allow easy access by an ambulance gurney.

Lakisha Wilson

Operation Rescue obtained the autopsy report. Lakisha went to Preterm Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 2014. She was 19.4 weeks pregnant. Further investigation by Operation Rescue reveals further details on the pathetic excuse for treatment Lakisha received at the clinic, as well as how the substandard conditions in the clinic contributed to Lakisha's death. After the safe, legal abortion, performed by Lisa Perierra, she began bleeding heavily because her uterus had become soft (atony). 

The procedure rooms at Preterm are on the third floor of the building. When emergency medical services arrived, the elevator was malfunctioning. They were delayed in getting the gurney to Lakisha due to this problem. When they entered the room, where Lakisha still lay on the abortion table with her legs in the stirrups, they found her abortionist, Dr. Lisa Perriera, trying to resuscitate her with a pediatric-sized Ambu-Bag. The IV for administering medications had been torn loose somehow by clinic staff. 

EMS began working to revive Lakisha, who had no pulse and was not breathing. The medics were able to get her heart going but were hampered in their further resuscitation efforts because the elevator was too small to properly accommodate the gurney; Lakisha had to be taken into the elevator in a seated position that did not provide adequate access to her airway. Several house later she was finally taken to Chase University Medical Center, where she was placed on life support and pronounced dead on March 28.

Here is video, with 911 audio, of an ambulance call two years before Lakisha's death. This patient, like Lakisha, was hemorrhaging due to uterine atony. In this patient's case, the elevator wasn't working at all. Fortunately, she survived.

Watch Trapped Because There Was No TRAP on YouTube.

March 25, 1941: Woman's Body Found on Country Road

Addie Wilson, age 48, was indicted for manslaughter and abortion conspiracy in connection with the death of 25-year-old Marie Swift. Marie's body was found on a country road on March 25, 1941.

Herman Ward, Marie's fiancé, was indicted for abortion and conspiracy.

Addie Wilson's 16-year-old son, Clarence, was held as a material witness.

Watch When Men Were Held Accountable on YouTube.

Source:

• "Indict Two in Death of Girl Found Dead in MD," Lancaster (PA) Intelligencer Journal, April 18, 1941

March 14, 2004: Long Lingering Death

Nina Gaston was left incapacitated after an abortion performed by Dr. Youl Choi in January of 1988.

She finally died of her injuries in 2004. A check of Social Security death records found the exact date as March 14.

Nina had gone to Choi's facility for a safe, legal abortion on January 2, 1988. According to a lawsuit later filed on her behalf, Choi's clinic did not have proper emergency equipment on site. Staff did not properly monitor Nina while administering a paracervical block for the abortion. She went into cardiac arrest. Staff failed to detect the cardiac arrest in a timely manner, then did not have the necessary skills to perform CPR properly. They did not intubate Nina or use oxygen. Even worse, they stopped their efforts to resuscitate Nina before emergency services arrived. 

As a result of these failures, Nina was left comatose in a nursing home, where she remained for 16 years until her death.

Choi had also performed the fatal abortion on Angel Dardie.

Source: Georgette Baker vs. Youl Choi

Lime 5, Chapter Three: Current Betrayals

In this section, Crutcher addresses the abortion movement's push for chemical abortions and for abortions to be performed by non-physicians.

February 26, 1943: Woman's Death Gets One Sentence of News Coverage

Dr. Henry Gross, age 56, had a reputable medical practice at 843 Belmont Avenue in Chicago in the 1940s. However, after a Dr. Ira Willits died, Gross purchased the dead man's office and set up an abortion practice there under Willits's name.

On January 28, 1943, 22-year-old Lavern Perez died in her Chicago home. Gross was convicted in her death but won a new trial.

Buried in the coverage of Lavern's death is a mention of the February 26, 1943 abortion death of 20-year-old waitress Dorothy Weber.

After Gross was granted a new trial, he and both the women vanish from the records.

Sources:

• "Jurors Convict Physician of Abortion Death," Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1943
• "Dr. Gross Wins New Trial in Abortion Case," Chicago Tribune, October 23, 1943

February 25, 1980: Troubled Doctor and Trash-Bag Aftercare

At around 9 a.m. on February 22, 1980, 26-year-old Betty Jane Damato's sister, Mary Zellers, dropped her off at Abortion Clinic of Denver where Dr. James Franklin was to perform a safe, legal abortion.

That afternoon, Mary called the clinic and talked to her sister, who said that she'd had complications during the abortion. Mary went to pick Betty up and found her pale, weak, and in pain, clutching her stomach.

When she helped Betty get out of the car at her apartment, Mary notice a blood stain on the seat where Betty had been sitting. She decided to take Betty to spend the night with her at the Zellers home.

The morning of February 25, Betty was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Porter Memorial Hospital, where she was found to have gone into total cardio-respiratory arrest. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. 

An autopsy revealed that Betty had died from massive infection originating from "a partially truncated and macerated fetus." Franklin had removed little more than the arms. 

According to Betty's family, Franklin knew that he had not removed all of the fetus. He instead had given Betty a trash bag, and instructions to collect whatever she expelled in the bag and bring it to him.

Franklin, an osteopath, told a grand jury that he did not perform the fatal abortion. He claimed that he had examined Betty, found the decomposing foot and ankle of the fetus protruding, and sent her to the hospital. However, when Betty was examined at the hospital, the fetus was protruding head first, making it impossible for Franklin to have observed its ankle since, as an expert witness testified, it's impossible for a dead fetus to turn around in the vagina and emerge head first.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter in Betty's death on October 19, 1981, and he was sentenced to prison for three years. 

Franklin already had a history of malpractice including causing an 11-year-old boy to be left paralyzed after a botched appendectomy and a man who died while hospitalized under Franklin's care. Those cases took place in New Mexico, where Franklin had been director of a hospital that went out of business. He was recruited by the Kiowa County Hospital in Eads, Colorado, after the doctor they'd hired turned out to be on the run after being caught practicing without a license in Kansas.

Watch Trash Bag Aftercare on YouTube.

Sources:

• "New doctor in small town lost two malpractice suites in N.M.," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, February 23, 1975
• "Denver Doctor Found Guilty of Manslaughter," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, October 20, 1981
• "Ex-City Doctor Found Guilty Of Slaying," Albuquerque Journal, November 5, 1981
• "Doctor Gets 3 Years in Fatal Abortion Case," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, December 4, 1981

February 17, 1929: Midwife Kills Chicago Woman

Before her death at Illinois Masonic Hospital on February 17, 1929, Mrs. Gladys Schaeffer said that a midwife named Emma Schulz had performed an abortion on her on February 12.

Gladys was a married woman, 23 years old.

When police went to arrest Schulz, she took poison in a suicide attempt. Police took her to Belmont Hospital. 

I've been unable so far to determine if Schulz survived and if so, if she was prosecuted.

Source:

• "Woman Accused in Girl's Death Tries Suicide," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 18, 1929

February 16, 1931: The Middle of Dr. Emil Gleitsmann's Trail of Death

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann had a long criminal history of abortion starting in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition. 

He was prosecuted but acquitted in the December 12, 1930 death of Jeanette Reder.

After his acquittal for Jeanette's death he was indicted for the February 16, 1931 death of 25-year-old Mathilda Cornelius. According to census records, Mathilda and her husband, Joseph, had two young sons, ages 1 and 3.

Gleitsman was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.

He was implicated again in the June 8, 1934 death of 26-year-old Elsie Quall.

Gleitsman got in trouble again in 1937 for the death of 16-year-old Phyllis Brown. However, that death was eventually attributed to Dr. C. Harold Edmunds.

At last he was held accountable for his crimes and sentenced to 14 years for the December 10, 1941 death of Marie O'Malley.

"Accused in Woman's Death," Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1931