New York Saline Abortion Deaths, 1970-1972
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Risky procedure embraced by quacks
On April 9, 1970, the New York State Assembly voted to legalize abortion on demand through 24 weeks. I'm sure they meant well, but they'd been bamboozled by activists such as Bernard Nathanson and Larry Lader into believing that they'd be preventing thousands of maternal deaths a year. Little did these politicians know that the claims were a lie. And instead of saving lives, they gave former illegal abortionists, and seedy wanna-be abortionists, free rein in their state. Some of these quacks embraced saline abortion, a method that had already been discredited and abandoned in countries with more experience with legal abortion.
This list of women known to have died from saline abortions initiated in New York City and New York State in these early years of abortion on demand is compiled from "Maternal Mortality Associated with Legal Abortion in New York State," Berger et al., Obstet Gynec March 1974. The time period represents the first two years of legalized abortion in New York.
1970
- A 31-year-old New York City woman ("Alice" Roe) developed pulmonary edema during a saline abortion and died July 19, 1970.
1971
- A 26-year-old New York City woman ("Roseanne" Roe) went into convulsions two days after a saline instillation, and died February 27, 1971.
- On May 12, 1971, a 23-year-old Massachusetts woman ("Anita" Roe) was found dead in her home from complications of an outpatient instillation abortion initiated in New York.
- A 20-weeks-pregnant 23-year-old from upstate New York ("Vicki" Roe) developed fever after saline instillation, delivered the dead baby, and died August 17, 1971.
- On August 22, 1971, a 17-year-old girl ("April" Roe) developed a 104 degree fever and died after initiation of an outpatient saline abortion.
- A 35-year-old Michigan woman ("Barbara" Roe), 20 weeks pregnant, went into convulsions and cardiac arrest during a saline abortion and died September 23, 1971.
- On October 5, 1971, an 18-year-old Batesville, Arkansas girl ("Becky" Roe) died of septicemia from a saline abortion done in New York City.
- A 23-year-old woman from Massachusetts ("Beth" Roe) went into convulsions and a coma after being injected with saline to abort her 22 week pregnancy, and died December 29, 1971.
1971
- A 21-year-old Michigan woman ("Colleen" Roe) suffered pulmonary edema and died March 8, 1972, after a saline abortion.
- A 14-year-old girl's ("Julie" Roe) saline abortion left some of the placenta behind, and her uterus and bowels were perforated during the D&C performed to complete the abortion; she developed peritonitis and died April 16, 1972.
- An 18-weeks-pregnant 20-year-old from New York City ("Sara" Roe) suffered an incomplete saline abortion, underwent a D&C to remove the placenta, and developed sepsis, dying on June 18, 1972.
Women Killed by Abortion
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