Safe-n-Lethal: Diane Watson

Diane Watson was 27 years old when she went to Hedd Surgi-Center in Chicago for an abortion on August 29, 1987. Although Diane was over 12 weeks pregnant, Rudolph Moragne proceeded with the abortion, in violation of state regulations.

Diane had seizures and went into cardiac arrest at the clinic. Moragne and the other physicians present -- Henry Pimentel, Ester Pimentel, and Calvin Williams -- failed to perform CPR.

Diane's autopsy report attributed her death to "seizures due to anesthesia during an abortion," and made note of the recent pregnancy. Diane's death certificate, however, not only makes no mention of the abortion, but also has the "no" box checked for whether or not the decedent had been pregnant during the previous three months, thus preventing her death from coming to the attention of public health officials.

Diane's family filed suit. A doctor reviewing the case said that Moragne and Hedd staff "deviated from the accepted standards of care [and] failed to appropriately and timely diagnose and treat intraoperative complications which resulted in her death."

Deja-vu across the water: Pervert abortionist

British Abortion Practitioner Jailed for Four Years in Sexual Harassment Cases

Benjamin Deodhar a 63 year-old physician born in India had been practicing medicine in Grimsby, England since 1990. ....

In one case of a 41 year-old woman who came to him for an abortion, Deodhar rubbed and fondled her breasts during an examination. The woman testified that he drove to her home to talk to her a few days later.

She said he also acted physically inappropriately during the abortion and avoided talking to him when he came to her house.

We ended up putting a whole chapter about this sort of thing into Lime 5.

We had Lawson Akpolonu. We'd given Diane Sawyer a heads-up that a nurse had complained that he'd lock himself in the procedure room alone with patients (among other wrongdoing). Sawyer dismissed Akpolonu as "a non-story." Then all hell broke loose:

A.A. awoke to find respondent raping her; he had penetrated her vagina with his penis. Respondent gave patient A.A. a shot and she went back to sleep. When patient A.A. woke up a second time, she saw respondent next to her. She saw his erect penis out of his pants. She tried to push him away. ... Respondent then gave her another shot and she went back to sleep. When patient A.A. awoke for a third time, she found her sweater had been removed and her bra partially pulled down exposing her right breast. Respondent was caressing patient A.A.'s body. ...when patient A.A. tried to scream, respondent placed his hand over her mouth. Respondent told patient A.A. she had a beautiful body. He said she was a very nice girl and a very sexy girl while he continued rubbing her inside her blouse and bra. He kissed her right breast. He then placed his business card inside her bra and said she could call him anytime. (Verbatim from California Medical Board Accusation No. 17-95-46707)

A non-story.

T.O. said that she had an abortion by Akpulonu on November 9, 1992. The anesthetic injection was supposed to induce sleep but only made her drowsy. Akpulonu ordered the nurse to leave the room and performed the abortion. "[Akpulonu] began to massage patient T.O.'s vagina with his hand. Patient began to cry. [Akpulonu] also began to rub her thighs and buttocks and he fondled her breasts through her blouse. ... [T.O.] could feel him rub his groin up against her exposed vagina. He had his pants on at the time. Patient T.O. continued to cry. She asked respondent what he was doing and pushed his hand away." Akpulonu then left the room and the nurse returned and gave T.O. follow-up instructions. (California Medical Board Accusation No. 17-95-46707)

Other patients came forward with more complaints against Akpolonu. The medical board also found dangerous and unsanitary conditions in Akpolonu's clinic.

There's Dr. Phillip S. Alberts. Alberts was investigated by Oregon Board of Medical Examiners after two women alleged he tried to sexually stimulate them during exams. Two other women allege he tried to sexually stimulate them and used explicitly sexual language while examining them. The Oregonian reported that 21 additional women contacted them to report similar incidents. (The Oregonian 9-22-94)

Then there's Dr. Brian Finkel In October of 2001, he was charged with sixteen counts of sexual abuse, and one of sexual assault, involving nine abortion patients. The patients said that Finkel had touched them inappropriately, singing silly songs, fondling their breasts, rubbing their clitorises, and staring between their legs. Finkel’s lawyer said, "I think the complaints are rooted in expectations and perceptions of women who go to the clinic expecting Marcus Welby and get Rodney Dangerfield instead." News reports of the initial charges brought forth 70 additional women with complaints for assaults going back as long as 17 years. Seven of Finkel’s past and current staff said they knew about the abuse but remained silent for fear of losing their jobs. Click here for a reprint of a strangely laudatory prochoice article on Finkel.

There's Dr. Nabil Ghali, a real piece of work. Last I heard of him was when I prepared a dossier for Ohio law-enforcement staff who were trying to keep him locked up after he'd been caught performing abortions while unlicensed and raping his patients. Anybody who knows Ghali's whereabouts, let me know, though he's been quiet for so long I'm beginning to think he must be dead.

Then there's our buddy, that most stellar of all National Abortion Federation members, Abu Hahat, "The Butcher of Avenue A." In addition to botching numerous abortions resulting in Sophie McCoy's death and the maiming of Ana Rosa Rodriguez, Hayat got in trouble with the medical board over his treatment of "Patient H." During an abortion follow-up exam October 11, 1991; while H was on the exam table, Hayat "simultaneously placed his fingers in Patient H's anus and vagina, while his other hand was on her buttocks. He then moved the hand, which he had on her buttocks, and tucked it under her breast and left it there." Hayat denied treating H, although his signature is on a prescription for her. (Medical Board Determination and Order)

Dr. Daniel Holschauer was disciplined by the medical board for stalking a patient for sex after performing an abortion on her. Days after the abortion, he showed up at her place of employment and had unprotected intercourse with her. He was a real pill; read the whole article.

Abortionist Dr. Vikram Kaji was suspended from practice for 3 years in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for allegedly having sex with a patient in the birthing room of his office in 1985 and supplying her with steroids. He allegedly knew that the woman suffered severe depression, had been sexually abused as a child, and had a history of psychiatric hospitalization. Two other women alleged improper breast and rectal exams. Kaji reportedly admitted to the allegations because he was tired of legal battles, but another report said Kaji had sex with the woman, a long-term patient since 1976, but "there was no emotional involvement whatsoever. He did not charge for the visit, He had not planned to have intercourse with her, but once they 'started doing something, he got involved with it.'" (Bicks County Intelligencer 10-28-93, Philadelphia Inquirer 10-29-93, Levittown-Bristol Courier Times 3-22-95)

Dr. Joseph Kennedy was arrested in New York on sex charges, and had been accused of performing abortions at Family Planning Clinic for Reproductive Health without a valid Tennessee license. (The Tennessean 6-9-88)

Apparently there's a tradition of perversion among abortionists. A patient of Dr. Harvey Lothringer, who had performed the fatal abortion on Barbara Lofrumento, said she went to Lothringer for an abortion at age 18. She was charged $400 up front. Whe went to Lothringer's office in the evening with her boyfriend, who was not permitted to stay. Lothringer gave her a shot to put her under. She said that as she lost consciousness, saw Lothringer come into the room, stripped to the waist, with a German shepherd. She awoke crying and yelling, being told to shut up. God only knows what he did to her while she was unconscious and alone with him and his dog.

Abortionist/gynecologist Dr. Anthony J. Lund is another piece of work. A. O. came in for her annual exam October 3, 1979; "Without a nurse present ... respondent performed a vaginal examination [and] began manipulating the clitoris and asked the patient to fantasize and move her hips. This conduct caused A.O. physical irritation, mental confusion and emotional distress." After completing the exam, "as A.O. stood up, respondent lifted off A.O.'s examination gown, leaving her nude, and requested that she walk and move her hips; she refused. Respondent indicated to her that she had a nice body and requested that she lift her leg onto the step of the examining table to remove the diaphragm, while she remained nude." (Medical Board No. D-3191) S.S. sought care July 12, 1977; "Without a nurse present ... respondent checked the patient's breasts by manipulating and rubbing them instead of examining them in an appropriate manner" During a vaginal exam, "respondent began manipulating the patient's clitoris and subsequently inserted his erect penis into her vagina. S.S. was frightened, acutely embarrassed and suffered intense feelings of shame and extreme emotional distress as a result." (Medical Board No. D-3191) B.R. sought fitting for a diaphragm for her upcoming marriage November 19, 1982; after the nurse left the room, Lund said he wanted to the check fit of the diaphragm, so B. "resumed her position on the examining table; respondent stated he was going to teach her how to relieve herself and began to manipulate the patient's clitoris with his right hand, with his left hand placed against the pubic area. Upon the patient's protest, respondent took the patient's hand, placed it over her clitoris, placed his hand over hers and began to rub back and forth. While the patient was standing in the room after the examination, respondent put his hand inside her vagina and stated that 'this is what it will feel like...' while pushing on the inside of her vagina and manipulating her clitoris." (Medical Board No. D-3191)

I'm only up the the letter L and I'm already disgusted. That's enough for one day.

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Bible reading du jour

From the American Bible Society's daily Bible reading site. I'm just pulling out what seems relevant to abortion, folks. This is not meant to be a thorough analysis, just some reflections.

2 Timothy 3:1-17 (GNT)
1Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days. 2People will be selfish, greedy, ... ungrateful, and irreligious; 3they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good; 4they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God;

That seems to be a pretty apt description of modern society.

5they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power.

Like the people who pretend that abortion can be defended on Biblical terms? They reject the ability of God to turn a seeming evil (unintended pregnancy) to good. God, in their view, is limited to smiling on whatever the woman decides to do, be it to nurture or kill, to trust in God or to act in fear.

6Some of them go into people's houses and gain control over weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins and driven by all kinds of desires, 7women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth.

I don't know about the going into their houses part, but when it relates to abortion Paul seems almost prophetic in noticing that women seem to have a particular vulnerability. I'd say it's because they do have that physical capacity to either bear new life or to take arms against that life and destroy it. This makes them a target for the Enemy. Sort of a power/weakness dichotomy. Because each new human being is nurtured within the body of a woman, it's natural that Satan, as a hater of humanity, would target women and attempt to kill in them any love they'd have for their newly conceived offspring, to turn women into destroyers of life rather than nurturers.

"Driven by all kinds of desires" isn't limited to simple lust. Listening to a lot of the NAF tapes, it seems like the desire that puts a lot of women on the abortion table is the desire to feel wanted, to have a man, some man, any man who will pay attention to them, even if a lot of the attention comes in the form of abuse. Then there's the desire for material success, for comfort, for security, for some sense of control. Politically, yeah, support for unfettered abortion may spring from a worship of casual sex, but in the trenches there are a lot of things that women want, that they're reaching for, that they're sacrificing their children to gain.

12Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted; 13and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.

No comment needed.

Guilt

Lately I've been plagued by memories of going fishing as a child.

Now, one might think that I'd have fond memories of family outings, of the bucolic beauty of the pond, of being with my parents and siblings, of gathering from the earth the food for our dinner table. But when I remember going fishing, it's always with a visceral horror that I want to run from. Because the memory that clings to my mind is of what I did, in my childish impatience, when a fish swallowed the hook. Rather than wait for my father to cut the line, I'd just pull it out.

I never meant the fish any ill. I had no sense at the time that what I was doing might in any way cause the fish any pain. I just wanted to resume fishing, and with my independent streak, I'd just fix the situation myself. Whether the fish was a large fish, to be kept for dinner, or a small one to be returned to the pond, my response to the swallowed hook was always the same.

I have a vivid, intrusive, physical memory of the feel of pulling the hook out. This memory fills me with revulsion and guilt, and makes me want to go backward 35 years, to explain to that little girl why we call Daddy to cut the line when the fish swallows the hook, to convince her never to do this cruel and needless thing. But it's no good. It was done, done habitually, done until the very nerves in my hands could recall, decades later, the sensations that flowed through the hands of an innocent child who meant the fish no harm. (And we'll set aside the fact that I intended to eat many of those fish; my dad always stunned the fish with a quick blow before neatly decapitating it when the time came. The fish were to be spared any needless suffering. Fish were below us in the food chain. Eating them was okay. Tormenting them was not.)

And since I'm awash with the memory, I wonder what the hell I'm supposed to do with it. What does one do with guilt and regret?

If I'm filled with such revulsion and horror for something I did to mere fish as a small child, what must it feel like when the conscience of somebody involved in abortion awakens? When the mother, father, escort, nurse, doctor has that awakening, as I did about my unintended cruelty to bluegills and bass, what must that be like? When the suffering innocent was no mere fish, but a human child, perhaps one's own child? When the act was done not by an ignorant child, but by a morally responsible adult? What sights, sounds, smells, sensations course through the now-aware soul? What wracking horror and revulsion? How are they to be borne?

I wish with all my heart that somebody had conveyed to me why not to just pull the hook out of the fish. I wish with all my heart that somebody had explained to me that I'd feel just dreadful about it later, when it was impossible to undo the deed. Better, far better, to bear the interruption, to go seek out my father and have him attend properly to the situation. And the women whose hearts awakened after their abortions try to warn others, try to tell them what a crushing thing it is to live with afterward, try to tell them to deal with the interruption of their plans in another way, one that won't leave the heart bleeding. But their cries, it seems, are as futile as my own mental cries back to the six-year-old Christina standing on a pond bank. "Don't do it!" But the deed is done, again and again.

Carol Everett speaks of how she used to do a quick pathology check after a doctor at her clinic had completed an abortion. Carol would go to the sink, empty the stockingette, and check to see that there was a head, spine, ribs, two arms, two legs. In retrospect, she said, what haunted her was the tiny intestines. Those little innards came back to haunt her, screaming to her now, after her conscience had awakened, that the broken body she was examining was the body of a fellow human being, intended for life, not for being pulled to pieces and sent to the lab. "Those are the ones," Carol said, "that I need to be healed from every day. Every day."

I don't have some neat way to pull this all together into something pithy and profound. I just have my own pain. I know it's a pale reflection of the pain of those silent no more, a pale reflection of the pain that led the centurions to lay down their arms. They can do something, warn somebody. Or rather, they can try. These unenviable Cassandras cry out to a deaf world, for the most part, reviled by the very people who one day will stand beside them, sisters in pain, united by their common remorse. A remorse they'd have been spared if only they had listened, a remorse that leads them to cry out to the unhearing the words they themselves had been deaf to in the moment.

All I can do is pray for those who would trade sins with me in a heartbeat, who wish that the only harm they had done was to fish. Who want their babies back.

It doesn't seem like much, does it?

Safe-n-lethal anniversary: F.S.

A 16-year-old girl underwent a second-trimester saline abortion on August 26, 1969. A journal article on her death identifies her as "F.S." Life Dynamics identifies her as "Fay" on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion.

F.S. developed an infection and symptoms of meningitis after her abortion. She continued to be treated for ten days before she was transferred to another hospital in San Francisco for further treatment.

Doctors performed two heart valve replacements of F.S., and had scheduled her for yet another before she died on March 6, 1970. The cause of death was severe congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

Source: "Medical and Surgical Complications of Therapeutic Abortions," Stewart, Goldstein, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 40:4, October 1972, 547

Safe and Lethal Anniversary: Dorothy Muzorewa

Dorothy Muzorewa, a 25-year-old nurse who had recently immigrated to the Chicago area from Zimbabwe, went to Women's Aid Clinic for an abortion on June 15, 1974. The fetus didn't die, however, and Dorothy returned to the clinic on August 21 to report her symptoms. Staff told her to return the following day.

On August 22, Dorothy again returned to Women's Aid, bleeding and in pain. David Turow examined Dorothy, diagnosed an infection, and sent her home with prescriptions for tetracycline to control the infection and ergonovine to control the bleeding.

Dorothy's husband said that he awoke at around 6:00 on the morning of August 23 to find his wife bleeding profusely. Dorothy assured him that she was just menstruating, so he left for school. When he returned home, he was alarmed by Dorothy's bleeding and called an ambulance.

Dorothy was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival shortly after noon. Only after her death did her husband, a theology student, learn of the pregancy and abortion.

A witness in Dorothy's apartment described the bedroom as "wall to wall blood." He found the fetus in a waste basket and put it in the refrigerator for safekeeping.

The coroner ruled Dorothy's death from hemorrhage accidental.

Safe and lethal anniversary: April Roe

"April" Roe was 17 years old when she underwent a saline abortion in New York City on August 20, 1971. The next day she was admitted to the hospital. She was in shock, with a high fever. She was treated there until her death on August 22.

Illegal abortion anniversary: Ruth Irene Friedl

According to the National Organization for Women web site, Ruth Irene Friedl was a married, 27-year-old mother of two. NOW's site said that pregnancy was life-threatening for Ruth, but they don't specify why, nor do they say why she was denied an abortion. NOW says that Ruth drank ergot apiol, an herbal abortifacient, on August 21, 1929. That night, according to NOW, Ruth collapsed at the dinner table in front of her husband and children, and died on the spot.

I'd welcome any verifying information on Mrs. Friedl's death. After all, NOW also claims that Becky Bell died from complications of an illegal abortion, when in fact she died of pneumonia concurrent with a miscarriage.

Carol Cunningham, post-abortion suicide

Carol Cunningham was 21 years old when she underwent an abortion in the late summer of 1986. On August 22, she shut herself up in her garage at her home in Albuquerque, and started her car. She died from breathing the exhaust fumes. Her body was discovered on August 25, 1986.

The other post-abortion suicides I know of, personally, are Arlin della Cruz, Sandra Kaiser, "Sandra" Roe, and Stacy Zallie.

According to a study in which CDC researchers linked death certificates with reported abortions, women who have recently undergone an abortion are more likely to die a violent death (accident, homicide, suicide) than are women in the general population. They looked among Georgia women and found:

Suicide Victim #1, a 22-year-old White woman, separated from her husband, with a history of depression. Four days after her abortion, she took her own life.

Suicide Victim #2, a 32-year-old White woman with a history of psychiatric treatment. She killed herself eight months after her abortion.

Homicide Victim #1, a 25-year-old White woman who had undergone two abortions in 1975. Four weeks after her second abortion she was murdered by an unknown assailant.

Homicide Victim #2, a 22-year-old Black woman who reunited with her ex-boyfriend two weeks after her abortion. Three weeks later he killed her. The CDC study reported "no obvious motive."

Homicide Victim #3, a 23-year-old Black woman who was murdered by a disgruntled neighbor four months after her abortion.

Accident Victim #1, a 17-year-old White woman found dead in her car of carbon monoxide poisoning seven months after her abortion. The study is unclear as to why the death was deemed accidental.

Accident Victim #2, a 35-year-old Black woman who fell, striking her head, eight month after her abortion. She died of subdural hematoma.

Accident Victim #3, a 24-year-old White who was putting gasoline into her car on the highway and struck by a car nine months after her abortion.

The CDC's researchers never followed up on these findings. However, a recent major study of death certificates and government medical records in Finland has shown that the risk of death from suicide is six times higher for women who have had an abortion compared to women who gave birth. The researchers also found that the risk of dying from accidents and homicide was four and twelve times higher, respectively, in the year following an abortion.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Paper shredder danger!!! Pass it along!!!

WARNING! EXTREMELY DISTURBING CONTENT!!! Household paper shredders can pose a danger to children and pets.

Read it yourself if you must, but if it doesn't leave you absolutely sick you have no heart. Helpless children and pets have been horribly injured by document shredders in the home. It's heartbreaking. Many document shredders have no safety features to keep little fingers, or pets' paws, ears, and tongues from being pulled in and utterly mangled. These shredders are powerful and the damage is permanent. Pets have had to be euthanized. And children have lost fingers. (I really don't recommend that you click the link and read it. I couldn't sleep last night and all this morning I've been scooping my granddaughter up and kissing her little hands. And I'm hard to shock.)

Bring your documents to work and shred them at the office until the manufacturers start putting safeguards on these things!

Pass it on! Even one more child or pet injured, even one more family traumatized, is too many!

Safe-n-legal anniversary: Tami Suematsu

Documents regarding Tami Suematsu, age 19, indicate that she underwent an abortion by Vern Wagner at Riverside Family Planning Center August 19, 1988. Tami went into bronchial spasm and asthma-related respiratory failure then cardiac arrest. She was transported to a hospital, but died shortly after arrival.

Pendergraft shut down, for the nonce

HT: Jivin J

State bars abortions at 2 clinics in Orlando

For now, all five of Pendergraft's facilities are shut down, but only two closures are expected to be long-term.

The state has ordered two Orlando clinics to stop doing abortions indefinitely and suspended the medical license of their owner, Dr. James Pendergraft, on grounds that he illegally performed third-trimester abortions.

....

In addition, Pendergraft's medical license was suspended Wednesday in an emergency order that claims he has shown "a flagrant disregard for the laws of the state of Florida and a willingness to endanger the lives and health of pregnant patients."

....

In both cases, the state claims "Dr. Pendergraft endangered two female patients by performing third-trimester abortions outside a hospital setting and without concurring certification from a second physician."

Orlando Women's Center is a NAF member facility.

Safe and Legal Anniversary: "Vicki" Roe

Vicki was 23 years old when she underwent an abortion in New York state. Saline was injected into her uterus to begin the abortion. The next day, she began to show signs of infection. On August 17, she died of sepsis.

Many sad anniversaries

Cheryl Vosseler was 17 years old when she was admitted to Fresno General Hospital on July 31, 1969, to undergo a legal abortion. After she was discharged, Cheryl suffered from complications, and was readmitted two weeks later. Surgery was performed August 14, 1969, to try to save her life. Cheryl's condition continued to deteriorate. She finally died August 16, 1969.

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Marina DeChapell, age 34, went to the Miami abortion facility at 620 SW 1st Street for a six to eight week abortion on August 17, 1978. Eduardo F. Elias administered Valium and Xylocaine for the abortion. Immediately after the procedure, Elias noticed that Marina was not breathing. He initiated CPR and an emergency team was summoned. The ambulance crew found Marina with no signs of life.

Although the medical examiner did not attribute Marina's death directly to the abortion, police noted that the clinic, owned by Luis Barquet, was not equipped with any emergency equipment other than an air bag.

****

Dorothy K. Brown, age 37, underwent an abortion at Friendship Medical Clinic in Chicago on August 16, 1974. Within hours, she was dead at a nearby hospital. Her death was attributed to "shock related to hemorrhagic necrosis of uterus."

Julia Rogers and Evelyn Dudley also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

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Today is also the anniversary of the death of Marla Cardamone, the young woman I stood for at March for Life. Her son is in college now.

Illegal abortion anniversary: Kris Humphrey

Kris Humphrey placed a high value on "self-determination" and doing things "naturally." These values led her to choose the herbal abortion that ended her life on August 14, 1994.

Kris had undergone a clinic abortion previously, but hadn't liked the experience. According to a friend, she found the procedure painful and the staff indifferent. Kris, said the friend, thought the staff at planned parenthood "treated her like she was doing something wrong, something she should be ashamed of," for choosing abortion.

Her stepbrother's death two years earlier due to an allergic reaction to a painkiller also led her to distrust modern medicine, said her family.

Kris used herbal remedies for minor ailments, so she already had ideas about where to go for information on an herbal abortion. She consulted friends. One of Kris's friends said she'd done more than one self-induced abortion and recommended an abortion technique from Wise Woman Herbal, by Susun Weed. The method relied on a tea of pennyroyal extract and black cohosh root, both readily available in health-food stores. Both were well known as herbal abortifacients. In fact, an album by the Yeastie Girlz included a pennyroyal abortion recipe in the liner notes.

On August 5, Kris started the abortion regimen.

Over the approximately 10 days Kris was taking the tea, she went about her buisness, socializing with friends and family. Kris experienced abdominal pain and cramping, which she took as signs that the abortion was going as planned. Neither Kris nor her friend who recommended the tea thought anything was wrong at first.

The only person who was concerned was her mother, Embee. The two attended a movie together on August 7, and Kris told her mother about the pregnancy and about her herbalist plans. Embee, who'd suffered through an ectopic pregnancy herself, saw something familiar in the way Kris was holding her side from pain. She asked Kris if she was sure that the pregnancy was normal, not ectopic, but her daughter evaded the question. Instead, Kris told her mother that the abortion should be complete on the 9th, and that she'd call then. But Kris continued to experience problems and continued to take the abortion concoction.

By Friday, August 12, Kris had given up on her herbal abortion plan. Embee and a friend offered to pay for her to have the abortion done at Planned Parenthood on the 13th. But when one of Kris's many housemates came home at 7:30 on Friday evening, she found Kris pale and feverish, and learned that she'd been vomiting. She continued to suffer chills, cramps, and vomiting for the next six hours.

Her condition continued to deteriorate. She passed out at around 11 p.m. Her friends continued to try to care for her, placing her in a cold bath at about 2 a.m Saturday to try to address her feverish sweating. But Kris just went into a seizure, so her friends carried her to the kitchen. One of them noticed that she wasn't breathing and started screaming. One friend called 911 while another attempted to perform CPR on the kitchen floor.

The paramedics arrived at 2:27 a.m and found Kris pulseless. They managed to resuscitate her enroute to the hospital, where emergency room staff put her on a ventilator and tried to stabilize her.

Her friends told staff about the abortion, and even brought the bottles of pennyroyal and black cohosh. The staff had no idea what effects the herbs might be having on Kris, and called poison control.

Kris was in shock and suffering from disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. "She was bleeding from everywhere," said a doctor who treated her. "She was even bleeding from all the places she was pierced--her nose, her mouth, her brow, her labia. Everywhere."

Doctors suspected an ectopic pregnancy, but feared doing exploratory surgery because Kris's condition was so fragile. While they were just done with a CAT scan at around 9:00 Saturday morning, Kris went into cardiac arrest. Staff used a defibrillator several times in addition to multiple IV lines to revive her. After half an hour, her heart finally started beating again. But despite all the IV fluids, she still had no blood pressure.

In desperation, the doctors proceeded with surgery, finding an unruptured right tubal pregnancy that was bleeding from the end of the fallopian tube. The doctors removed the pregnancy and "significant quantity of old blood which was malodorous."

Even though the tube hadn't ruptured, it appeared that the effect of the pennyroyal on Kris's liver had caused the clotting problems that had led to her excessive internal bleeding.

After surgery, Kris showed no signs of responsiveness. She was declared brain dead on Sunday. Friends and family gathered at the hospital and life support was turned off. Half an hour later, at 4:51 p.m., Kris was declared dead.

Testing on samples of Kris's liver showed signs of damage associated with one of the substances, pulegone, contained in pennyroyal. Not enough is known of the effects of pulegone on the liver to say for sure what effect the damage had on Kris or what role it played in her death.

Kris's divorced parents are united after her death in a lawsuit filed against the pennyroyal manufacturer and the store where Kris likely bought the herbs. The store is called, in a bitter ironic twist, "Bread of Life." They want to see pennyroyal and other herbal remedies labeled with warnings about their possible negative effects.

Kris's friends, on the other hand, blame the health clinic where Kris had her positive pregnancy test. They say that the clinic should have done an ultrasound to check the location of the embryo. But since Kris had no unusual symptoms at the time, and had been given a referral to Planned Parenthood, there really was no reason for the clinic to do such an examination.

Nobody, it seems, is blaming the culture that makes abortion normative and assures young women that it's perfectly safe.

Anniversary: Yvonne Tanner, yet another Inglewood victim

Yvonne Tanner, a 22-year-old mother of one, had an abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood Women's Clinic; Yvonne went into a coma immediately after the abortion, and died August 14, 1984. Her death certificate indicates coma, hypertension, and urinary tract infection.

Other women to die at Inglewood include Kathy Denise Murphy, Belinda Byrd, Cora Mae Lewis, Lynette Wallace, and Elizabeth Tsuji.

Safe, legal, and of course highly professional

Sara Franki Lint, a 22-year-old coed, submitted to an abortion at San Vicente Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on August 11, 1970. Adolpho Zlotolow, who operated San Vicente (an abortion facility) said that Sara went into ventricular fibrillation soon after the abortion was initiated by either Albert Kapstrom or Milton Gotlib.

The technique being used on Sara, hysterotomy, was one with a known high maternal mortality rate. San Vicente staff treated Sara for an hour before transferring her to Midway Hospital down the street, where she died at 4:57am on August 12. The autopsy found yellow fluid in Sara's heart, frothy tan fluid in her lungs, and a seven-inch male fetus in Sara's uterus.

San Vicente was where Oriane Shevin, Natalie Meyers, Joyce Ortenzio, Laniece Dorsey, and Mary Pena underwent their fatal abortions.

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Donna Heim, age 20, went to Her Medical Clinic on August 12, 1986, accompanied by her sister. Donna told staff that she had asthma, and she noted this on her forms when she filled them out. Despite this pre-existing condition, a nurse anesthetist administered general anesthesia for the abortion. Donna started to have difficulty breathing, but Mahlon Cannon continued with the procedure for five more minutes before helping the nurse anesthetist to try to restore Donna's breathing.

Donna's sister, who was in the waiting room, became alarmed at the intense staff activity she noticed, and questioned a staffer about her sister. She was reassured that Donna was fine. The sister saw an ambulance pull up to the building and stepped outside, where she observed her sister being transferred into the emergency vehicle. Donna's sister followed the ambulance to a nearby hospital, which summoned the comatose young woman's parents.

Donna died the next day without regaining consciousness. An investigation was sparked, and an administrative law judge ruled that Cannon was negligent in continuing with the abortion despite the patient's respiratory distress. The judge also found that Cannon often failed to do medical exams, take medical histories, or administer standard tests prior to abortions.

Liliana Cortez also died after an abortion at Her Medical Clinic that year. Michelle Thames died there in 1987. Maria Soto had died there in 1985 after being injected with drugs and left unattended.

Anniversary: Abortion turns miracle to double tragedy

Allegra Roseberry, age 41, had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Allegra was admitted to Emory Hospital for assessment and surgery in anticipation of admission to an experimental cancer treatment program. There, a sonogram during surgery revealed a 23-week pregnancy, much to everyone's surprise since Allegra had undergone fertility drug treatment in order to conceive her son Matthew 20 years earlier. Her liver specialist, family doctor, and gynecologist all failed to detect her pregnancy despite amenorrhea, breast tenderness, distended abdomen, and nausea because these symptoms were attributed to the cancer and other ailments.

Allegra's doctors offered abortion as her only alternative, saying that the fetus was "doomed" due to Allegra's ailments, that the pregnancy would render her ineligible for the experimental treatment, and that the pregnancy was damaging her fragile health and would greatly hasten her death. No one arranged for a consult with a perinatologist or a high-risk obstetrician. The options of continuing the pregnancy and/or premature delivery of the infant were not offered or discussed.

Allegra was transferred to Emory's Crawford Long Hospital for the abortion. Young W. Ahn initiated the abortion by prostaglandin suppository on August 8, 1988. On August 9, Allegra expelled the dead baby, whom she and her husband named Amy Ann.

Allegra developed sepsis from the abortion, and died on August 13. An autopsy revealed that Amy had been normal. The liver specialist contended that Allegra would have aborted Amy even if she had known the child was healthy in order to be eligible for the experimental program. Allegra's gynecologist claimed that the reason for the abortion was damage to the fetus due to radiation therapy and also mentioned chemotherapy, neither of which Allegra had undergone. All defendants held that Allegra could not have survived long enough to deliver Amy alive anyway. The jury rendered a verdict against the liver specialist for the wrongful death of baby Amy, but returned no verdict for the wrongful death of Allegra due to their assumption that the cancer would have killed her soon anyway. Evidently they did not consider the time she could have spent being a mother to her baby daughter to be of any value.

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

• 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.
  
• 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.

Safe, legal, and highly professional: CRASH and the death of K.B.

Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health ("CRASH") was the model abortion clinic -- a published review of their earliest patient records, published by Bernard Nathanson, played a key role in "proving" the safety of legal outpatient abortion.

On August 10, 1988, 19-year-old K.B. (due to confidentiality, the public record documents do not give the patient's name) was given anesthesia for a 14-week abortion. Shortly after the procedure, she showed signs of distress, but emergency measures were not instituted for almost an hour. K.B. was transported to Cabrini Medical Center where she was pronounced dead from complications of anesthesia.

After K.B.'s death, the health department investigated and found a mystery: K.B.'s chart listed her post-operative condition as "pink, responsive, alert," even though she had gone into full cardio-respiratory arrest by the time indicated on the assessment. They learned that the note had been entered into the chart before the abortion was even performed.

The inspectors noted that CRASH "did not employ proper monitoring equipment or procedures," "had no working EKG machine," and didn't have a cardiac defibrillator. They noted that no one on staff was qualified to perform CPR. No one on staff was qualified to administer anesthesia, and they did not use proper procedures or equipment. Anesthesia was administered "by eye," with no means of accurately measuring the dose. Dosage was estimated to be twice that recommended in the procedure manual.

The operating rooms were found to be ill-lit, and there was no soap or paper towels at the scrub sink. The scrub sinks were stained, the walls and floors dirty, trash was stored in the scrub room. There were red make-up stains on the oxygen masks and nitrous oxide masks, dusty tubing on the suction machines, and blood on the wheels of the operating table.

CRASH had no documentation verifying the credentials or qualifications of medical director David Gluck. Gluck had been previously convicted of felony charges related to the sale of 48,000 Diluadid tabets to pay off gambling debts. His license had actually been revoked two months before K.B.'s death, but had been restored by judicial stay.

There was no evidence at the investigation two weeks after K.B.'s death that Gluck had reviewed her chart, or the charts of 18 other patients identified as having suffered complications. Gluck went on to perform the fatal abortion on Alerte Desanges.

The state closed CRASH for 60 days, but it never re-opened.

Safe-n-lethal: Cheryl Tubbs

On August 6, 1975, 29-year-old Cheryl Tubbs underwent a saline abortion at Pacific Glen Hospital in Los Angeles County. She experienced heavy vaginal bleeding after the abortion, so she was transferred to White Hospital on the evening of August 7.

Cheryl continued to bleed profusely, and twice went into cardiac arrest. Staff performed a paracentesis on her to remove blood and fluids from her abdomen. About an hour after midnight, staff could no longer detect any blood pressure. For an hour they tried heart massage, to no avail. Cheryl was pronounced dead at 2:30AM on August 8.

An autopsy revealed that Cheryl's uterus had ruptured during the abortion, spilling blood and uterine material into her abdomen.