Friday, August 16, 2013

#AbortionMatters: Because Safe-n-Legal Abortion Quackery Kills

For your Tweetfest convenience, a collection of examples of women killed by safe-n-legal abortion quackery, noting that there is indeed a need for a national dialog about, and approach to, abortion in order to improve women's health and well being. That's something we agree with the Feminist Majority Foundation about!



 BCuz U can't trust safe-n-legal doc not 2leave hemorrhaging pt. in care of receptionist.


 We need national policy BCuz even NAF sends women home 2bleed 2death.  


 BCuz  rally in favor of quacks who kill women via .  We need neutral oversight.


We need nat'nl  policy BCuz safe-n-legal NAF members let receptionists give anesthesia.


Nat'nl   discussion needed BCuz legal clinic charts dead pt. as "pink, alert, responsive."
.

National dialog needed: Safe-n-legal  docs still murder patients.  heads in sand.


NAF member scolded by PP Med. Director for playing "Russian roulete." Patients die. Dialog needed.


White safe-n-legal abortionists kill young black women, no consequences. We need dialog!  


Bullied into fatal unwanted . Women's health? NOT! Let's dialog.   


"Oh, Mama! It hurts so much!" Last words of legal  patient. Let's have dialog.  


Teen is 1 of 15  pts. killed at safe, legal NAF chain. Dialog needed!  


Legal  pt. stops breathing, not resuscitated properly, dies. Dialog needed!  


Legal  clinic discharges pt. 2bleed 2death by side of road. National dialog needed.


 doc makes private office look like clinic, kills pt.  outrage? NO! Dialog needed


Legal  pt. sent home bleeding, with fetus protruding from womb, dies. Safe? Dialog needed!


NAF just launched, member sends teen home with face & spine of fetus embedded in laceration. SAFE?


 hero give pt. horse business phone as "emergency number." Treatment delayed, pt dies.


Former "back alley butcher" kills 2 legal abortion pts, but remains NAF member.  HERO!


Legal  doc sends pt. home 2bleed 2death in front of her kids.  yawn. Dialog. 


 know how bad  is, refer 2him, let him kill 2 women. Dialog needed.  


Legal  doc shoves bleeding teen out door 2die. Coroner rules homicide, no prosecution.


Legal abortionist's quackery so bad he's charged with murder.  National dialog needed.


NAF member chain kills at least 15 legal abortion pts.  consider this "quality care."


Mom takes teen for legal abortion, finds her dead next morning on bathroom floor. Dialog needed!


Extreme quackery kills legal  patient.  yawn. National dialog needed!


NAF member clinic's  pt. dies after 5 years in coma. 1 of 3 dead pts. there. Safe? Hardly.


Criminal abortionist waits until after Roe 2kill patients with sloppy practice.  hero.


Legal abortionist slips pt. thru morgue w/o autopsy, quackery only caught by alert records clerk.


School helps arrange secret legal  for 13-year-old Teen dies, 1 of 3 at that NAF clinic. 


 delays care,  pt. bleeds2death. Still  icon. Dialog needed.


Teen dies when aunt takes her for secret legal . Good 4 families?



Doc scolded  meeting 4 "playing Russian roulette w/pts. lives," still member 4 dead pts. later.


Quack doctor's office looks like  clinic, pt. dies of quackery,  yawn. Dialog?


Cancer pt. lied to, tricked into fatal . No  outrage. We need national dialog. !


Teen coughs up blood, given paper bag. Stops breathing. Dies. Safe and legal? Hardly! Dialog needed.


Safe&legal  doc uses lidocaine overdose 2knock out pts. Teen dies. National dialog needed.


Abuser's sister arranges teen's fatal abortion w/"License to Lie"  hero. Dialog needed.


No training, no emergency gear,  pt. stops breathing, dies. Safe and legal! Dialog needed.


's quackery reported, ignored. Young woman injured, sent home to writhe, scream, die. 


National  Federation clinic fatally injures 2 teens simultaneously. Dialog needed.


Legal  clinic has hand-holder assist in anesthesia, no training or equipment, pt. does.


Teen legal  death discussed at NAF event attended by CDC staff. Death not noted. DIALOG!


at 2:49 PM 0 Speak to me!

#AbortionMatters: Let's Embrace Their Goals!

Here's the "Feminist Majority Foundation" page announcing the #AbortionMatters" "blog carnival."

Abortion. How festive.



Now -- let's look at what they say, and address the issues in a life-affirming way, not in the "What we need is for everybody to agree with us that abortion is the single most wonderful thing any woman can have at her disposal" light the FMF intends:
#AbortionMatters will showcase various personal essays and short policy pieces that stress the importance of a federal – and wholly national – approach to abortion. In an effort to destigmatize abortion, encourage wider education on the procedure, and normalize the conversation, we’re gathering stories to illustrate the complexity and unique experiences which shape the pro-choice movement and demand greater action. Pieces should stress / mention why a cohesive, national approach to abortion issues and decisions leads to better healthcare and well-being for women.
 1. I agree that there does need to be "a federal -- and wholly national -- approach to abortion." After all, the 14th Amendment specifically says that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process." Legal abortion creates an entire class of people who can be deprived of life without due process, and thus is clearly unconstitutional.

2. We do need to "encourage wider education" on abortion procedures. People need to be made aware of exactly who is being destroyed, and how, and why.

3. "A cohesive, national approach to abortion issues and decisions" would indeed lead to better health care and well-being for women. A pregnant woman facing challenges should be offered help and support, not turned over to people who will scrape her out then shove her out the door to bleed and vomit in the parking lot. Not to mention the adverse effects of abortion on women.

Of course, they add the "destigmatize" abortion. Gosh, it turns out that slaughtering your own children is still considered a shameful thing. Who woulda thunk it?  We don't need to make abortion acceptable; we need to make it unthinkable. And if we keep pounding away at the three points, the things that FMF claims they want to do, we can get people to start asking why anybody would want abortions to be tolerated at all.

So let's get going! Go on and read the rules. Write and submit those blog posts! Submit them to the FMF, AND to me here! The email address is socialmedia@feminist.org. Put the links to your blog posts in the comments and I'll keep updating the list of entries that were submitted to FMF.

Let's have that national dialog, shall we?
at 9:20 AM 0 Speak to me!
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Thursday, August 15, 2013

#LifeMatters vs. #AbortionMatters

The "Feminist Majority Foundation" is holding an "#AbortionMatters blog and tweetfest from August 23 through August 26.


Prolifers are responding with a corresponding "#LifeMatters" blog and tweetfest on the same dates.

Of course, if you know me, you know that I'll be joining #AbortionMatters with messages to get people past the idea that if they don't plan to avail themselves of abortion, it doesn't effect them.

Between now and the blog/tweetfest I'll be preparing blog posts with information about why the abortion culture hurts people who don't think abortion will touch them:
  • Women who face health problems during wanted pregnancies and end up not being offered life-affirming options.
  • Women who face a prenatal diagnosis and are pressed to abort their wanted babies.
  • Family members who lose wanted children, siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to abortion.
  • Families who lose a beloved daughter, mother, sister, or wife to botched "safe and legal" abortions -- either through death or because those loved ones are left permanently incapactitated
  • Men who marry post-abortive women and then are left to help their wives through the damage that an abortion has done.
  • Bystanders who end up caught up in the drama of a woman collapsing from a botched abortion.
I'm also open to other suggestions of how abortion matters, even if you think it doesn't impact you.


at 12:39 PM 0 Speak to me!

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Another NAF Clinic Closed by State

HT: Operation Rescue

Press Release: DHHS Takes Action to Protect Health and Safety of North Carolinians
(I have highlighted particularly important points.)
Raleigh, N.C.-In response to inquiries, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed today that it has suspended the license of a medical clinic in Asheville, N.C, which specializes in abortions. After a routine survey of FEMCARE, Inc., inspectors found egregious violations of existing rules that revealed an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients. 

"Inspectors from Division of Health Service Regulation (DHSR) found the facility failed to comply with 23 separate rules," said Drexdal Pratt, Director of DHHS' Division of Health Service Regulation (DHSR). ....

In addition to other findings, the survey found the facility:
  • Failed to maintain anesthesia (nitrous oxide gas) delivery systems in good working condition, with torn masks and tubing held together with tape.This could lead to patients not receiving the intended dosage and risk patients not being fully sedated during surgical procedures, leading to pain and physical harm.
  • Failed to ensure emergency equipment had weekly checks to ensure the equipment was suitable for use in patient care and failed to ensure that emergency medicine wasn't expired.
  • Failed to have a resuscitator available.
  • Failed to sweep and mop the operating room floor and failed to properly clean operating room beds.
  • Failed to have a director of nursing responsible and accountable for all nursing services.
  • Failed to have an agreement/contract with an anesthetist or anesthesiologist.
  • Failed to have an agreement/contract with a registered pharmacist to assure appropriate methods, procedures and controls for obtaining, dispensing, and administering drugs.
FemCare is a member of the prestigious National Abortion Federation (see listing here), which purportedly provides the safest and highest quality abortion practitioners. However, one National Abortion Federation clinic allowed notorious abortionist and convicted murder/admitted drug dealer Kermit Gosnell to begin illegal third-trimester abortions on their premises and complete them in his Philadelphia "house of horrors," where they were doped within inches of their lives by amateurs and left to moan on bloody recliners amid the fleas and cat feces.


 FemCare is also a member of the Abortion Care Network, another organization that purports to refer women to safe and high-quality abortion facilities.







So much for the idea that prochoice organizations can be trusted to oversee abortion practitioners and to refer women to places that won't endanger their lives.






at 1:32 PM 0 Speak to me!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Chicago Deaths Two Years Apart

Mrs. Sophie Layton of Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to five years for the abortion death of 20-year-old Miss Celia Roberts of Granville County. Celia had gone to Raleigh in July of 1931 for an abortion, which was perpetrated on July 22. She was taken to a hospital in Oxford, where she died on July 24 after naming Layton as her abortionist. Interestingly enough, it appears that a local Justice of the Peace had referred Celia to Layton for the fatal abortion.

On July 16, 1929, Dr. Sven Windrow performed an abortion on 19-year-old Emmy Anderson at a Chicago location. Emmy died on July 24. Dr. Windrow was held by the coroner on July 25. Jacque Lagrave, age 67, was held as an accessory. Windrow was indicted February 6, 1929 for felony murder. I've been unable to learn anything more about the case.
at 11:38 AM 0 Speak to me!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

1961: "Life-saving" Abortion Kills Young Woman

Erika Peterson, age 28, died July 23, 1961 during a legal abortion at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. At this time, abortion was only legal in California if it was done to save the life of the mother.
Erika had entered the hospital on July 11, 1961 during the first trimester of pregnancy, because of problems breathing. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and placed in a tank respirator. Her physicians made the decision to abort her child as soon as she was well enough to undergo the abortion. On July 21st, Erika's condition was improved, and her husband signed the consent form for the abortion, which was scheduled to take place two days later. Erika went into cardiac arrest during the abortion and was unable to be resuscitated. The abortion that was intended to save her life ended her life instead. After autopsy, it was believed that Erika's original illness was caused by a hereditary disease that was exacerbated by the medications she was taking for her schizophrenia.

Erika'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.
  • Christin Gilbert died after an abortion George Tiller holds was justified on grounds of maternal health.
  • "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.

at 9:20 AM 0 Speak to me!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Modern Day Quackery and a Mystery from History

On July 22, 1974, twenty-two-year-old Carol Wingo died of a Demerol over dose during a safe and legal abortion at Mercy General Hospital in Detroit. Despite the name, Mercy was not a general hospital. It was an abortion hospital. It was also a hospital in big trouble even before Carole's death. The Michigan Public Department of Health had cited Mercy for 43 violations of nursing standards and 12 violations of physical plant standards in October of 1973, and had withheld their license. Among the violations were that the operating room lacked a cardiac monitor, a resuscitator, and a defibrillator.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1960.jpg

Very little is on record about the death of 17-year-old Gertrude Wynants. According to the New York Times, Gertrude died on July 22, 1925, of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Margaret Shott Higgens, age 25, was indicted for manslaughter in Gertrude's death.
at 6:37 AM 0 Speak to me!

Abortion Deaths Through Over a Century


I've been unable to learn almost nothing about 25-year-old Sharon Margrove other than that on May 21, 1970, she died following a safe and legal abortion in Los Angeles County, California.


Elizabeth Radcliffe
Late in the evening of July 21, 1916, 21-year-old Roy Hinterliter showed up at the sanitarium in Olney, Illinois with an unconscious young woman, Elizabeth Radcliffe, in his buggy. Elizabeth, age 17, was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. An autopsy confirmed pregnancy, but showed no external signs of violence and all her reproductive organs appeared normal. However, upon cutting open her heart, air escaped. There were also signs of air embolism in the brain. There were no lung lesions to explain the air in Elizabeth's bloodstream. The Chicago Tribune reported that a hypodermic syringe, minus the plunger, had been inserted into Elizabeth's artery, admitting the air. Hinterliter was held without bail, and under guard for fear of a lynching, after the coroner's jury verdict. The case caused a sensation not only for the nature of the crime, but because Elizabeth was the county's first murder victim in 20 years.

On July 21, 1907, homemaker Madeline Paffrath died at German American Hospital in Chicago. She was approximately 21 years old. The coroner's jury determined that she had died from an abortion performed. They held two midwives -- Alice Rastone and Hacrone Schuetner -- responsible.

“Phoenix, July 21, 1891 -- Mrs. Alice White, the victim of the sensational abortion case, died this afternoon. Dr. Helm's bondsman immediately withdrew and he was again taken to jail. A warrant is out for the young man interested in the case.” The accused abortionist, Dr. Scott Helm, was described as "one of the best and most prominent physicians in Phoenix." Clearly Alice got the same kind of care in a criminal abortion that she would have gotten from a doctor doing the "safe and legal" kind.

On July 21, 1886, Mrs. Fred Winkleman was found dead in her Cincinnati home from a botched abortion. The last survivor of the Miller family, she had a small fortune of $13,000 which she had given over to Winkleman at their marriage four months earlier. Winkleman was arrested and freed on $5,000 bail. Police believed that Fred Winkleman, a 26-year-old druggist, had intended his wife's death in order to have free use of the money.
at 6:34 AM 0 Speak to me!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Justice4Tonya? Ask Mattie Byrd.

"People tell me nothing has happened, that nothing ever happens to white abortionists who leave young black women dead. I'm hurting real bad and want some justice for Belinda and all other women who go like sheep to slaughter."
Nothing has changed in the quarter of a century since Mattie Byrd penned those words in an angry letter to the Los Angeles District Attorney. Her daughter, 37-year-old Belinda Ann Byrd, had undergone a supposedly safe and legal abortion performed by Stephen Pine at Inglewood Women's Hospital on January 24, 1987. Belinda was left unattended for three hours after the abortion, and even after she was found unresponsive, staff at Inglewood delayed an additional two hours before transferring her to a hospital with appropriate emergency services. Belinda never regained consciousness, and died on January 27.

Belinda had been one of 74 women rushed through Inglewood's single operating room that day, and one of 24 whose abortions were performed in the final two hours of the day. Belinda remained comatose until her death on January 27. In the wake of a series of abortion deaths at Inglewood, the authorities inspected the place. Among other things, they caught an abortionist writing post-operative examination notes without even examining the patients. 
Fast forward to July 21, 2012. Another young Black woman lies bleeding out after an abortion. Her name is Tonya Reaves. Just like Belinda, she is left languishing at the facility for hours before finally being taken to a properly equipped hospital. Like Belinda, she bleeds to death.

And her abortionist, Mandy Gittler, has, like Stephen Pine, blithely continued to practice, unhindered by the decision to let a young Black woman bleed to death on her watch. She, like Pine, remains above reproach for killing a young Black woman. There is, you see, there is one kind of white-on-Black violence that the Left will turn a blind eye to.

 If you're white and you want to kill Blacks, just open an abortion clinic. Far from being a pariah, you'll be a hero.
"People tell me nothing has happened, that nothing ever happens to white abortionists who leave young black women dead. I'm hurting real bad and want some justice for Belinda and all other women who go like sheep to slaughter."
I'm sorry, Mrs. Byrd. Justice isn't coming. It didn't come for Belinda, or for Eurice Agbagaa, or for Ellen Williams, or Antonesha Ross or Tamiia Russell or Synthia Dennard or Tonya Reaves or any of the other Black women killed by abortionists. It will never come until the Left starts to care more about people than they do about abortion. And that's not going to happen any time soon.

Nothing ever happens to white abortionists who leave young Black women dead -- Mattie Byrd
People tell me nothing ever happens to white abortionists who leave young Black women dead." Mattie Byrd, mother of Belinda Byrd. Why has this not changed? Justice4Tonya
at 1:12 AM 0 Speak to me!
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Friday, July 19, 2013

Two Early Beneficiaries of New York and California's "Liberalized" Abortion Laws

Today's anniversaries are both safe and legal but pre-Roe. They took place a year apart, one in New York and one in California. 


Betty Hines was 21 years old when she was checked into Doctors Hospital in California for a safe, legal abortion to be performed by Dr. A. Mitchell on July 19, 1971. Mitchell had been her physician for three or four years. Betty was eight weeks pregnant. There didn't seem to be anything wrong during the procedure. Betty was transferred to the recovery room, when she suddenly went into cardio-respiratory arrest.
Mitchell theorized that perhaps Betty had died because of a bad vial of Inovar, because the next patient who was injected from that vial also went into cardiac arrest but was successfully resuscitated. Betty's autopsy, however, found no trave of Inovar in her system. A toxicology check was also done on the vial of medication, and found nothing wrong with the Inovar. Betty's death was attributed to massive intravascular sickling due to underlying sickle cell disorder. Other women who died of sickle cell crisis triggered by abortion include Margaret Davis and Barbara Hoppert.

Carmen Rodriguez was 31 years old when she underwent a 14-week saline abortion at Lincoln Hospital in New York City. She had a history of rheumatic heart disease and two previous live births. After the saline was injected, it got into Carmen's blood stream. This caused acute pulmonary edema -- fluid accumulation in the lungs -- and Carmen went into a coma from which she never recovered. She died on July 19, 1970, leaving behind a husband along with her children.

After Carmen's death, a militant Puerto Rican group, The Young Lords, swung into action. They pointed out that doctors at Lincoln Hospital knew that Carmen had heart problems and failed to take proper precautions.  The Young Lords distributed leaflets in the neighborhood of the hospital, denouncing Carmen's death as "murder". For 12 hours, the group occupied an administration building connected with the hospital, denouncing the hospital as "a butcher shop that kills patients".

Merle Goldman, spokeswoman of an abortion advocacy organization, did not share The Young Lords' outrage. Ms. Goldman said she hoped that Carmen's death wouldn't deter other women from undergoing abortions. She touted abortion's reputed safety and stressed that her group was lobbying against proposed health department regulation of abortion practice. New York City Chief Medical Examiner Milton Helpern, on the other hand, expressed concern that ill-equipped and poorly-staffed freestanding legal abortion facilities were posing a danger to women.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1960.jpg
at 11:15 AM 0 Speak to me!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Two on the Same Day, Two a Year Apart

Two of today's safe-and-legal abortion deaths happened on the very same day.

Twenty-year-old Gail Vroman had a safe and legal abortion performed on July 14, 1979, by New York abortionist Taskin Ratharathorn at Ft. Wayne Women's Health Organization. Within two hours, Gail was transferred to a nearby hospital. Gail died of massive infection on July 18. The coroner ruled that the death was caused by clostridium perfringens, or "gas gangrene."

Geneva Colton, age 21, mother of two, underwent an abortion at Northside Family Planning Service in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 18, 1979. On the drive back home she was in pain, but she figured that this was just the cramping the clinic had told her to expect. At 8:30 that evening, Geneva was admitted to a hospital, with no vital signs detected. Doctors attempted to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead.
The autopsy found that Geneva's uterus had been perforated. She had bled to death. Northside was eventually sued by their malpractice insurer because they'd allowed one of their abortionists to continue to perform surgery even though his manual dexterity had deteriorated due to multiple sclerosis. The suit by the insurer also alleged failure to meet state health standards, failure to have enough nurses on duty, failure to have proper on-call procedures, and lack of a professional director of medical services. The clinic where Geneva's fatal abortion was performed seems to be the same clinic where Catherine Pierce underwent her fatal abortion in 1989.

Abortion supporters will argue that deaths from abortions would only become more common if abortion was recriminalized. As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1960.jpg

On July 18, 1918, 18-year-old Margaret Smith, an unmarried clerk, died at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. The coroner determined that she had died of septicemia from a self-induced abortion.

On July 18, 1911, 24-year-old homemaker Ragna Beck died from an abortion performed on May 9th by Mrs. C.M. Anderson. Anderson was held by the Coroner and arrested on July 19, but the case was stricken off during trial.

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.

external image MaternalMortality.gif
at 12:50 PM 0 Speak to me!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Criminal Deaths from 1941, 1917, and 1901

On July 17, 1941, Goldie Crow died of peritonitis from a criminal abortion perpetrated on July 2 by Otto C. Lucy. Lucy was a 37-year-old psychologist and teacher, had previously been dean of men at Central State College. He performed the fatal abortion on Goldie while he was out on bail pending trial for the abortion death of Mary Ellen Legge. He was assisted by a nurse, Ruth Bowen. Though he was not a physician, Lucy had a listing in the telephone book reading "Dr. Otto C. Lucy". Lucy was sentenced to 25 years in the state penitentiary for Goldie's death.

Clearly if  Lucy had been locked up after killing Mary Ellen Legge, Goldie Crow's life would have been spared. Lucy's decision to identify himself as a doctor when he was not, coupled with his abortion practice, should have been enough to lock him up. When Roe falls, steps will have to be taken to ensure that quacks like Lucy are locked up promptly.

*****

On July 17, 1917, 34-year-old nurse Frances Reinhardt died at Chicago's County Hospital from septic blood poisoning caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by Dr. A. E. Thomas. Though he was held by the Coroner, he was never tried "for want of pros."

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.

external image MaternalMortality.gif


*****


At about 9 a.m. on July 17, 1901, 23-year-old Juliette "Julia" O'Brien died of complications about a week after Dr. M. A. Arnholt performed an illegal abortion in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Evidently this doctor had blackmailed previous patients into keeping quiet, leading one of them to report him and uncover his abortion ring and blackmail scheme. Julia's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Note, please, that with ordinary 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. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
at 11:45 AM 0 Speak to me!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Den of Quackery Closes, More Rending of Garments on the Left

The sackcloth and ashes are being dragged out over the demise of a nasty Virginia abortion mill. I'll take the examples of weeping and lamentation from "Virginia Abortion Clinic, Busiest In State, Closes Due To New State Regulation," in the Huffington Post.
“I was deeply saddened to learn that NOVA Women’s Healthcare in Fairfax City has been forced to close its doors," executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Tarina Keene said in a statement. "NOVA Women’s Healthcare has provided safe, exemplary medical care in Northern Virginia for over 10 years, and was one of the largest women’s health centers in the Commonwealth. Its closure affects thousands of Virginia women and families, and leaves its many patients without their trusted healthcare provider.”  

Shall we look at a 2012 inspection deficiencies report?

Six of of 20 patients (30%) whose records were reviewed were not given physical exams, and doctors were not reviewing their medical histories, prior to abortions.

A staff member looked over the abortion tissues and told the doctor that the specimen was "okay." The doctor then signed off as if he or she had completed a proper pathology exam. Failure to do a proper pathology exam can lead to incomplete abortion or failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy, both of which are potentially fatal to the patient. (One patient whose ectopic pregnancy NOVA failed to diagnose suffered a potentially fatal rupture. She collapsed at home, unable to reach a phone, and was fortunately discovered before she bled to death.)

Fourteen of 15 patient records reviewed had discrepancies in documentation of anesthesia. The patients reportedly underwent "conscious sedation" but their level of anesthesia was checked as "general anesthesia."

Given how risky anesthesia drugs are, do we really want them administered by somebody who doesn't know the difference between conscious sedation and general anesthesia? (Or were these women given general anesthesia that was incorrectly documented elsewhere as conscious sedation?)

There were numerous other issues with documentation as well, including contradictory notations made on patients who had to be hospitalized due to complications, and there were failures do document who ordered what medications to be given to patients. There were also no discharge orders signed by doctors.

The patient who later suffered the ruptured ectopic pregnancy was discharged from the facility when she was too weak to walk and had to be carried to a vehicle.

Is this "exemplary medical care"? To be treated by a doctor who doesn't examine you or take your history before performing surgery? To have your records screwed up so that nobody can be sure exactly what happened? To be discharged from the facility when you're still too weak to even walk?

HuffPo didn't even bother to do a little check on erstwhile owner Mi Yong Kim, who killed one patient with sloppy practices surrounding anesthesia, and who attempted to perform a first-trimester abortion on a woman who was 26 weeks pregnant, eventually finishing the abortion without informing the mother of the mistake and giving her a chance to decide to save her baby.

 Yet NARAL is "saddened" that this place is closing.
at 5:32 AM 0 Speak to me!
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Sunday, July 14, 2013

1921: Fatal in Chicago

On July 14, 1921, 23-year-old homemaker Edna May Rohner died at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Otto Klemmick. He was held by the coroner and tried, but acquitted on June 12, 1923. I don't have enough information to determine if Klemmick really was innocent or if he beat the rap because of technicalities or loopholes.

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.

external image Illegals.png
at 12:11 AM 0 Speak to me!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

They Want Honest Advertising?

The abortion lobby keeps trying to pass legislation to correct what they see as "false advertising" by pregnancy help centers. They claim that the full weight of law needs to go into making it clear that CPCs do not do abortions, because women wanting abortions might go there by accident and be really annoyed.

I know of how to stop these attacks in a heartbeat.

The Full Disclosure to Abortion Patients Addendum..

Take the text of the anti-CPC bill and announce that prolife legislators will get 100% behind it as soon as an addendum to this effect is added:
1. Any facility that advertises as an abortion facility must provide complete and honest information as to the licensing status of the facility and staff. Physician's offices must clearly state that they are not licensed clinics. If a facility is not licensed by the state as a medical facility, this must be clearly stated.  If anesthesia is administered, the qualifications of those administering anesthesia must be posted. The qualifications of staff overseeing recovery must be posted. The qualifications of any staff providing counseling must be posted.

2. The results of the five most recent inspections must be posted in layman's terms in a highly visible area of the waiting room. Copies of the five most recent inspection reports must be made available to prospective patients upon request. If the facility is neither licensed nor inspected, a notice must be prominently posted to that effect.

3. Notice of any disciplinary actions currently in force against any licensed staff must be clearly and prominently posted in layman's terms.
 4. If a facility advertises that they provide counseling, they must also provide a breakdown as to what percent of their patients choose abortion, adoption, and parenting.
5. Information about patient deaths, along with deficiencies that led to the deaths, must be prominently posted, along with any other information a reasonable patient would want to know before making a decision about trusting her life to that facility.
Of course, this will be drafted in legalese, but you get the idea.

Here's what one currently operating chain's ads would look like:


A sign posted in a clinic lobby (for a fictitious clinic based on typical inspection deficiencies) might read:
November 2012 inspection deficiencies:
    * 7 instances of outdated medications
    * 11 instances of sanitary deficiencies
    * Re-use of disposable instruments
    * No current CPR certification for 5 of 7 staff records inspected
November 2011 inspection deficiencies:
    * 4 instances of outdated medications
    * 4 instances of sanitary deficiencies
    * Broken autoclave
    * Re-use of disposable instruments
    * No current CPR certification for 4 of 7 staff records inspected
    * Crash cart missing medications
You get the idea.

The abortion lobby would have two equally unpalatable choices:
1. Agree to the addendum and then watch the prolifers have a field day demanding that the law be enforced against specific facilities.
2. Fight the addendum and then watch the prolifers have a field day holding hearings showing why the addendum is necessary.
They'd drop the whole attack on CPCs like a devout Muslim would drop a pulled-pork sandwich.

I think it's a win-win for us and for the women of America. Why aren't we doing it?
at 10:43 PM 2 Speak to me!
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Atlanta Hotels Serve as Abortion Annexes

Saynsumthn offers this screen shot of Atlanta Center for Women's Choice's web site, listing local hotels that give a discount if you mention you're one of their late abortion patients. In essence, these hotels are serving as annexes to this abortion facility.


I'm contacting the local hotels and their corporate offices. Contact information is:

Microtel Inn & Suites
1840 Corporate Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30392
(404) 325-4446
(888) 771-7171
Corporate web site contact form
Facebook page

Staybridge Suites
540 Pharr Road
Altanta, GA 30305
(404) 564-4300
Corporate web site contact form

Quality Suites
505 Pharr Road
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 262-7800
Facebook page

My email:
It's come to my attention that this location offers discounts to women undergoing multi-day abortions.

The choice to serve as an annex to the abortion clinic can put you in a position of liability should something go wrong. Some of the complications these women might suffer at your hotel include sepsis, hemorrhage, and giving birth in your toilets.

It's disturbing that you submit your staff and other guests to this practice.
I'm also contacting the
Georgia Department of Health:
2 Peachtree Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303
Healthcare Facility Regulation: 404-657-5700
Office of Inspector General: 404-463-7481
Online contact form

 It has come to my attention that three Atlanta hotels are being advertised on an abortion clinic web site as offering discounts to their patients who are there for multi-day late abortion procedures. In short, these hotels are serving as annexes to a medical facility. Patients undergoing multi-day abortion procedures are at risk of hemorrhage, amniotic fluid embolism and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy, which can be quickly fatal. They are also at risk of giving birth to premature infants in the toilets.

I do not believe that non-medical facilities should be serving as annexes to medical facilities. I encourage you to investigate this matter.

Microtel Inn & Suites
1840 Corporate Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30392
(404) 325-4446

Staybridge Suites
540 Pharr Road
Altanta, GA 30305
(404) 564-4300

Quality Suites
505 Pharr Road
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 262-7800

You can view the abortion facility web page for yourselves:

http://acwomenschoice.com/services.php
 Let's get on them!
at 8:01 AM 0 Speak to me!
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Friday, July 12, 2013

Two On The Same Day in 1970, and an Historic Death

"Judy" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. Judy was a 42-year-old mother of four from upstate New York when she chose safe and legal abortion in 1970. She was to have a tubal ligation done at the same time. Judy underwent the procedure, but went into cardiac arrest. Her heart was started again, but she remained in a coma for six days until her death on July 12.

Another woman, 42-year-old Pearl Schwier, died that very same day in New York City. At 20 weeks pregnant, she had sought a safe, legal abortion under New York state's new law, at St. Luke's hospital in New York City. She was brought into the operating room on July 6, 1970 for a hysterotomy abortion, which is simply a c-section in which the intention is to allow the baby to die rather than to deliver him or her alive. It was performed under general anesthesia. About 45 minutes into the procedure, Pearl had a reaction to the anesthesia and never regained consciousness.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place since the beginning of the 20th century -- perhaps earlier. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.


On July 12, 1889, Annie Doran, from Traverse City, Michigan, was died suddenly in Chicago from an illegal abortion perhaps perpetrated that day. The coroner's inquest concluded that she had bled to death from an abortion, possibly self-induced.News coverage, however, indicated that a physician, Dr. McMullen, was believed to have provided Annie with abortifacients.
at 10:51 AM 0 Speak to me!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Different Legal Status, All Deadly

Beverly Moore, age 15, died July 7, 1985 after an abortion by Tuckey Hayes at Chattanooga Women's Clinic -- the "Lime 5" clinic. Hayes assured Beverly's parents that she would be "all right" just fifteen minutes before she died. Chattanooga Women's Clinic was written up for continued deficiencies even after Beverly's death. Noted flaws included expired and improperly stored medications, re-use of disposable items, stained instruments, and blood in the procedure table.

On July 11, 1920, 36-year-old homemaker Vincenza Romano died at Chicago's Columbus Hospital from septicemia after an abortion. A midwife named Marie Lendino was arrested, and was indicted on July 15, but the case never went to trial. I've been unable to learn enough about the case to draw any conclusions.

Dr. Julius Hammer
Marie Oganesoff, wife of the Russian Attache in Washington during WWI, died on July 11, 1919, from complications of a criminal abortion performed on July 5 by Dr. Julius Hammer (pictured), father of industrialist Armand Hammer. Hammer, a 1902 graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, reported used instruments on her. She had been about one month pregnant. Marie reportedly had health problems that necessitated a "life of the mother" abortion.

 On July 11, 1904, Alma Swanson died at her home from an abortion performed there that day. Midwife Constance Marie Anderson was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury on July 15. Though the fact that Alma's abortion was done in her home reeks of "back alley butchery" to modern sensibilities, surgery performed in the home was not that unusual at the time.
at 11:31 AM 0 Speak to me!

Have a "Fan F***ing Tastic" Abortion

Life Site News has a heartwarming little piece, "Slate writer: We need happy, ‘blithe and unapologetic’ abortion stories."

Here's the Slate article:  "Enough With the Grueling, Wrenching, “I Had an Abortion” Essays". The author, Jessica Grose, asserts that the way to energize, and gain momentum for, the abortion-rights movement is to trot out "blithe" abortion stories:
The pro-choice side remains in a defensive crouch. We trot out the saddest stories: a woman who really wanted a baby but terminated because the baby was not going to be able to live outside the womb or a woman who can’t afford another child without tumbling into poverty. But a lot of women have abortions and don’t look back. A lot of women don’t want a baby, and they don’t care whether the fetus is viable or how much money is in their bank account. Where are their essays?
Ms. Grose, those essays don't get mainstream play because they'd make most people angry and very unsympathetic. "I want the baby dead because fuck this baby." isn't going to win friends.

She quoted with great admiration  an anonymous piece called “What to Expect When You’re Aborting.”:
By monday my hormones were a little wonky but in all i just felt like this parasitic creature that burrowed its way into me and fed of my energy, apetite, [sic] and joy was removed. And I had been restored.
Yeah, nothing says "joy restored" quite like an abortion.

Follow the "What to Expect When You're Aborting" link and you'll find some stuff that's not exactly gonna convert the mushy middle:
I would to like to live in a place where abortion isn’t such a polarizing, seemingly life-changing event. It wasn’t for me. Not at all. I’ve been in more pain and anguish from a twisting my ankle. The pregnancy was the agony, 7 weeks of vertigo and mood swings. The abortion was a breeze.
And this gem:
When the nurse took my vitals she asked me how I was feeling I said “I am fan fucking tasticcccc… ....And I got excited. This was going to be a very rare, often coveted moment of self-actualization right? Where something so atomized understands itself entirely and it begins to bond to other atoms. We could all speak the same language now.
 And:
Wanna talk about the question of life? Let me put it like this: the physical and psychological euphoria was so immense that moments after I stood up i felt resurrected. I felt very certain the life had indeed prevailed. My life.  
 To round it out, Life Site linked to some other chipper, upbeat abortion places.


"My Happy Abortion: One Woman's Guilt-Free Story":
It couldn’t have been more than five minutes before one of the assistants helped me to sit up so that I could get dressed.  She walked me out into the recovery area, and I unsuccessfully attempted to repress the huge grin that had developed on my face.  I felt euphoric.  I was so relieved to be done with all the medical business, even happier to know that I was no longer pregnant, and pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t feeling any physical pain.

I felt momentarily guilty when one of the other patients in recovery asked me if I ever stopped smiling, but I quickly reminded myself that it was senseless guilt.  After all, smiling is a natural reaction to happiness, and I was happy sitting there.  When they released me to go home fifteen minutes later, I was gladder still.
"I Love Abortion: Implying Otherwise Accomplishes Nothing for Women’s Rights":
 I love abortion. I don’t accept it. I don’t view it as a necessary evil. I embrace it.....  I love abortion.
It Happened to Us: Abortion

The author writes: "I had an abortion. I love abortions. I’m out and proud about having had an abortion and I wholeheartedly and unilaterally support everyone who has chosen to have an abortion, for whatever reason, at whatever time, along with people who are currently pondering the decision to have one, and those who will face that decision in the future."

The bulk of the piece, though, is women holding signs celebrating abortions -- even abortions they haven't had yet but seem to be almost looking forward to:
"I've never had an abortion...but knowing I could, after being on a plane with screaming infants, makes me happy! :)"

"If I was pregnant TODAY, I would get an abortion. (Cats are enough, thank you.) (Less crying) (Self reliance) (Smaller poops)"
Folks, when abortion is recriminalized, we'll be dealing with these enthused individuals for whom abortion isn't seen as a tragic necessity, but as something to be outright embraced and celebrated.

They have no shame, and won't be happy until nobody else has any shame either.

They will stop at nothing -- nothing -- to make sure abortions continue to happen. And we need to get it through our heads that they will never quit and never go away. Abortion makes them happy, and they're not about to give it up.

at 7:21 AM 0 Speak to me!
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Legal, Illegal, Fatal

Dr. Lillian Jones
Virginia Wolfe, age 33, went to Methodist Women's and Children's Hospital on July 6, 1998, to have an abortion performed by Dr. Lillian Jones (pictured). Jones performed a suction abortion. During the procedure, she punctured Virginia's uterus and bladder. Virginia suffered massive hemorrhage, losing so much blood that her heart stopped. Doctors repaired her bladder and removed her uterus, but Virginia's brain had already been damaged by the lack of oxygen. Virginia was pronounced dead on July 10, 1998.

The fact that her abortion was performed in a reputable hospital did not protect Virginia from massive, ultimately fatal, injuries.

Our other two anniversaries today are from "back alley" abortions.

Marian Mills
In 1934, pretty Marian Mills, a beauty queen, was the 19-year-old "campus sweetheart" of Neal Myers. Myers, a 21-year-old pharmacy student, was the son of Dr. P.B. Myers of Denver. On July 10, Marian died in the apartment of Mrs. Hazel Brown, the cook for Myers' fraternity house and "the only person of mature age in the house during the 24 tragic hours preceding the girl's death." Myers was charged with murder in Marian's death, and could have faced life in prison if convicted. Mrs. Brown said that Myers had loved Marian and had wanted to marry her. He was opposed to the idea of an abortion. Marian, on the other hand, insisted that her parents would never accept Myers. Brown said that Marian had taken "a harmless drug" and that this was the only attempt that she personally knew of to abort the baby.

But evidently Marian had found an abortionist, or had done something herself more drastic than just take mild abortifacients, because doctors who examined her said that some sort of instruments had been used in the abortion that had caused her death. Meyers, a pharmacist testified, had purchased strong antiseptics which he intended to use "to sterilize instruments" prior to Marian's death. After a sensational trial, Myers was acquitted.

Abortionist
Dr. Thomas Walsh
Our final case is one of literal butchery. On July 13, 1926, a laborer on his way to work stumbled across a grisly find: the dismembered remains of a young woman, tossed along the side of a lonely road between two cemeteries near Boston. Boston police began their investigation, but had little to go on. The dismemberment was expertly done, Leary said, indicating that the killer might be a skilled surgeon. Leary estimated that the young woman had been dead from 48 to 72 hours at the time of autopsy. Leary also did not at first release a definitive cause of death. He said that "blood poisoning" was likely and indicted that, as the New York Times said, "evidence pointed to illegal surgery." By July 15, the young woman had been positively identified as 20-year-old Edith Green, who had been an attendant at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital.

Ford admitted to police that he had arranged for an abortion to be performed on Edith by Dr. Thomas E. Walsh (pictured). Ford said that Walsh had asked for his help in disposing of Edith's body, but that he had refused. Walsh and his wife were charged with murder in Edith's death.

Edith's abortion was typical of pre-Roe abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

at 9:53 AM 0 Speak to me!
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