Category: Legal Abortion Deaths

On December 28, 1977, 26-year-old leather shop owner Sherry Emry went to Water Tower Reproductive Center in Chicago for a safe and legal abortion. Arnold Bickham, who owned the facility, did not have his staff do pathology exams on abortion tissues; instead they threw them away.

Sherry was in pain on New Years Eve. She consulted with the clinic instruction sheet and concluded that her pain was normal. By January 2, Sherry was quite ill and unable to arise from her bed. Her worried friends urged her to seek medical care, but Sherry thought that she just had the flu, so she kept to her bed. She slept fitfully, with chills and sweating. She was pale. When her friends came to check on her the morning of January 2, they found her dead in her bed and called the police.

Sherry’s fetus had been implanted in her fallopian tube, which ruptured. She bled to death.

The coroner blamed Sherry’s death on the fact that Water Tower threw fetal remains away without a pathology analysis. However, the police found that Sherry had a receipt from Water Tower indicating a $50 discount. They hypothesized that staff might have noted the lack of a fetus in the aspirator, concluded that Sherry hadn’t been pregnant, and given her a partial refund.

When Sherry’s survivors filed suit against Bickham, he refused to turn over her medical records, first saying that they were privileged, then by claiming that they were his personal property and that Sherry’s family had no right to them. Bickham was held in contempt of court for his refusal to cooperate with the courts in the matter.

Sherry wasn’t the only woman to die after abortion in a Bickham facility. Sylvia Moore, age 18, died after Bickham shoved her out the door of his clinic New Years Eve of 1986.

Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they’re actually more likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners.

The CDC report says, “At this clinic the physicians did not routinely examine the products of conception except through the wall of the transparent suction tubing as tissue was aspirated…. The tissue was neither weighed nor examined…. The aspirated material from all patients was collected together in a single bottle.” “Autopsy revealed 4,000 ml of blood in the peritoneal cavity and a ruptured ectopic pregnancy…. fetal size was consistent with a 10 weeks gestation.”

Sources: The Chicago Sun-Times, “The Abortion Profiteers”, November 12-December 3, 1978; Chicago Sun-Times 12-18-79, 11-19-78, 12-18-79, 11-20-80, 11-20-80; Chicago Tribune 11-17-78, 11-18-78, 1-27-79, 1-22-82; CDC Abortion Surveillance Summary 1978; 90 Ill.App.3d 897, 46 Ill.Dec. 315

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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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.

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.

Sources: Bexar County Forensic Science Center Autopsy Report, Case # 98-1003; Life Dynamics “Blackmun Wall”

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Twenty-five-year-old Dorothy, a nurse, had recently immigrated to the Chicago area from Zimbabwe. A jouralist’s notes after her death tell the following story:

Dorothy went to Women’s Aid Clinic for a safe and legal 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 pregnancy 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.

Source: Kevin Sherlock’s 1991 Abortion Death Log

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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The survivors of 32-year-old Joyce Ortenzio filed suit against Edward Allred, his Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA), the San Vicente Hospital FPA facility, and abortionist Ruben Marmet.

Joyce went to San Vicente for laminaria insertion by Marmet on June 7, 1988. Later, Marmet performed a safe and legal abortion, but did not remove all of the fetal parts from Joyce’s uterus.

The next day, June 8, Joyce was found dead in her home.

The cause of death was an overdose of the drug amitriptyline, infection from fetal parts that were not removed during the abortion and septic shock.

Joyce left three children motherless.

Joyce is one of many women to die at this NAF facility after the National Abortion Federation was founded.

Other women known to have died after abortion at Allred’s facilities include:

* Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
* Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
* Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
* Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
* Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
* Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
* Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
* Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
* Christina Mora, age 18, 1994
* Kimberly Neil, 2000
* Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004

I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.

Sources: Los Angeles County (CA) Superior Court Case No. WEC139590; California Death Certificate No. 88-127625

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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Articles indicate that Shirley Payne, age 33, underwent a safe and legal abortion on January 4, 1983 at Woman’s Care Center in Miami. She was 16-18 weeks pregnant.

Shirley suffered a perforated uterus. When paramedics arrived on the scene, they reportedly found Shirley lying on a couch, bleeding heavily.

Shirley arrived at the hospital in critical condition due to delay of transfer. An emergency hysterectomy was performed to try to save Shirley’s life, but she bled to death in surgery.

Clinic documents were unclear as to who did Shirley’s abortion.

Ruth Montero, Myrta Baptiste, Maura Morales, and Shirley Payne all died in a clinic owned by Hipolito Barreiro, trained in Argentina and West Africa, but not licensed in U.S. Barreiro was accused of practicing without a license and tampering with witness.

Miami Herald 1-5-83; Obstetrics & Gynecology September 1986; CDC Abortion Surveillance 1982; Florida Today 6-1-83

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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October 10, 1989, 27-year-old Catherine Pierce died in a nursing home in Tennessee from abortion complications that had left her comatose since March 11. She left an 11-year-old daughter motherless. The abortion was performed at Atlanta Surgi-Center, which had at one time also done business as “Northside Women’s Clinic,” and was performed by Daniel McBrayer.

Catherine had gone into cardiac arrest while left unattended in recovery after her abortion. State officials alleged “serious problems” after Peirce was injured. They cited this National Abortion Federation facility for administering “the same anesthesia dosages” to patients whose weights ranges from 107 to 167 pounds, inadequate record keeping, and inadequate supervision of patients.
(Atlanta Constitution 5-12-89, AP 5-12-89)

State investigators indicated that they’d been turned away the first time they’d tried to inspect the facility, and were forced to stage a raid in order to obtain the records needed to investigate the mishap that later killed Catherine. The clinic complained that they’d only turned the state investigators away because they’d failed to display badges and a subpoena. They also complained to the press that the raid was “political harassment” due to the fact that an anti-abortion activist had complained to the state about the facility.

Among the patient care problems cited, the investigators also said that they found discrepancies between the number of fetuses sent to the disposal lab and the number of abortions performed. In 1989 Atlanta Surgi-Center had logged 1,748 abortions, but had only sent 155 fetuses for disposal. In 1988 they had logged 2,774 abortions, but only sent 155 fetuses for disposal. In 1987 they logged 1,104 abortions but only sent 306 fetuses for disposal. The investigation into fetus disposal was prompted by local prolifers reporting that they had seen hundreds of fetuses in the clinic’s dumpsters. Dr. Gay, the clinic director, denied the allegations. (AP 9-20-89, 9-22-89; Atlanta Constitution 9-21-89)

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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Twenty-six-year-old Yvette Poteat had an abortion performed by Dr. Marion D. Dorn Jr. at The Ladies Clinic in Charleston, South Carolina on July 16, 1985.

A lawsuit filed by her surviving mother and sister says that Dorn did not examine the tissue he removed from Yvette’s uterus, and did not notify Yvette that the lab report showed no fetal or placental tissue in the specimen.

On July 27, Yvette experienced “sudden, sharp, constant lower abdominal pains,” and was taken to a hospital by her fiancee.

Yvette was admitted to the emergency room, where she informed the doctors about the abortion. She was mistakenly diagnosed as having Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, was given medication, and was discharged after several hours with instructions to seek follow-up care in two days.

Throughout July 28, Yvette experienced continued pain. She called the hospital but “was instructed not to return but to give the medication a chance to work.”

Early in the morning of July 29, Yvette collapsed at home. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She went into cardiac arrest due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that both Dorn and the hospital staff had failed to diagnose, and was pronounced dead 6:15 a.m.

The lawsuit noted that Yvette’s mother “suffered the loss of the financial support of her daughter, extreme mental shock and suffering, wounded feelings, extreme grief and sorrow, has lost the love and affection and companionship of a loving and wonderful daughter, has been deprived of the use and comfort of her society.”

The suit against Dorn, the clinic, the hospital and hospital doctors won a small $23,000 plaintiff verdict in 1987.

Sources: Charleston County (SC) Court of Common Pleas Case Nos. 86-CP-10-3283 and 86-CP-10-3284

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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On January 22, 1980, Vanessa Preston, the 22-year-old wife of a local minister, went with her husband and small son to Fairmount Clinic in Dallas. There, National Abortion Federation member Curtis Boyd performed a safe, legal dilaton and extraction abortion on her. During the abortion, Vanessa went into a grand mal siezure and then into cardiac arrest.

To the credit of Boyd and the Fairmount staff, emergency procedures were immediately instituted. An ambulance was summoned, and Boyd and a nurse performed CPR and got Vanessa’s heart to beat again.

Before the ambulance arrived, Vanessa again went into cardiac arrest. Again, staff at Fairmount performed CPR. Paramedics and staff stabilized Vanessa for transport to the hospital.

About 40 minutes into exploratory surgery, trying to address a retained placenta and multiple vaginal punctures, Vanessa again went into cardiac arrest. She was given a total of 24 units of blood to try to keep her circulation entact despite her massive, unstoppable blood loss. For an hour and a half, hospital staff tried in vain to resuscitate Vanessa before finally pronouncing her dead.

An autopsy revealed that she had developed amniotic fluid embolism (AFE – amniotic fluid in the mother’s bloodstream) and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC – a blood clotting disorder) during the abortion. This is what caused her cardiac arrest. When Boyd’s staff resuscitated Vanessa, they caused a small laceration of her liver. This is typical in even properly performed CPR, and is not usually life-threatening. However, because of the DIC, Vanessa’s blood couldn’t clot, and she bled to death from the liver laceration. Since second-trimester evacuation abortions were still new (read “experimental”) at the time, Boyd and his staff didn’t realize that there was a risk of DIC.

Boyd, to his credit, reported Vanessa’s death to the Centers for Disease Control. He also wrote a medical journal article about her death, warning other abortionists that DIC could occur during second-trimester evacuation abortions.

Sources: Dallas Morning News 1/24/80, 1/25/80; American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 10/1/81; Texas Autopsy Report No. 0190-80-0095; Texas Death Certificate 07018

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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A suit was filed on behalf of the 6-year-old son of Jacqueline Reynolds, age 22. Jacqueline underwent a safe and legal abortion at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta on August 27, 1986.

Due to inadequate oxygenation during general anesthesia, Jacqueline lapsed into a coma. She died on September 5.

Her death was attributed to use of a mask for anesthesia rather than an endotracheal tube. The case was settled for $3 million.

Source: Jury Verdict Review

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Luz Rodriguez was 40 years old when she went to Moshe Hachamovitch’s abortion clinic in the Bronx for a first-trimester abortion in 1986.

She bled heavily after the abortion.

Just before she was to be discharged, she stopped breathing.

Staff summoned an ambulance, which took Luz to a hospital. Efforts to resuscitate her were successful, but she remained hospitalized. Four days later, she died.

The autopsy found that she had bled to death from an incomplete abortion.

Sources: “Clinic head faces complaints,” Arizona Republic July 15, 1998; “History of trouble at clinics,” Arizona Republic, January 17, 1999

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