| "Roxanne" Roe, Abortion Death | |
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"Roxanne" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. According to Life Dynamics, Roxanne was 17 years old when she traveled to New York from Michigan to have a first-trimester abortion in a doctor's office. The doctor gave her sedatives and local anesthesia to begin the abortion on May 13, 1972. But before the abortion could be started, Roxanne started to have convulsions and went into cardiac arrest. Roxanne was taken to an area hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival. An investigation into the case revealed that the doctor had exceeded the recommended dose of the local anesthesetic. LDI Sources: "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972," Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 324. "Maternal deaths associated with paracervical block anesthesia," Berger, Tyler, Harrod, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 118:8, April 1974, 1142-43.
