Twenty-two-year-old Nicole Williams was the third patient known to have died of safe and legal abortion complications under the dubious care of Dr. Robert Crist. The others were Latachie Veal and Diane Boyd.
Nichole submitted to a first-trimester abortion at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 25, 1997.
Reproductive Health Services, a National Abortion Federation member facility, is operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. Crist serves as medical director.
Screen capture of assurance of safe, quality care on National
Abortion Federation web site. It reads:
"What is a NAF Clinic? NAF is the professional association of
abortion providers in North America. .... In order to become a member,
a clinic must complete a rigorous application process. Member clinics
have agreed to comply with our standards for quality and care....
NAF periodically conducts site visits to confirm that our clinics
are in compliance with our guidelines.
During the abortion, Nichole began to have difficulty breathing. Crist completed the abortion, then had staff summon an ambulance.
Nichole was rushed to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. She died later that day, leaving behind three children.
Nichole's death was officially attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). Hers is the only case I've ever read of linking DIC with first-trimester abortion.
Prolifers were sceptical about the reports of DIC, and say that they believe Nichole's uterus was ruptured.
Fourteen-year-old Sandra Kaiser committed suicide after a 1984 abortion at RHS, performed without her mother's knowledge or consent.
Sources: "Abortion-Related Death Spurs Activists Pleas," St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 27, 1997; "Woman's Death After Abortion Under Scrutiny," Louis Post-Dispatch April 29, 1997; "Abortion Doctor Much Despised, Much Praised," Louis Post-Dispatch April 29, 1997; "Drug Was Fatal In '88 Abortion," Louis Post-Dispatch April 30, 1997; "Woman dies following abortion at St. Louis clinic," Associated Press April 1997; "Death is third connected with abortion doctor," Associated Press 1997; "State Reports - Missouri I: Physician Cleared in Abortion Death," Kaiser Daily Reports June 13, 1997
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