1972-1978: Legal Abortion and Multiple Risk Factors

“Jennifer Roe” was in the first trimester when she and her baby were killed. At 11 weeks pregnant, she underwent a hysterotomy abortion. This was a highly invasive and dangerous procedure that required cutting open her uterus, which was already scarred from three previous C-sections. A medical journal study by multiple doctors concluded that the risk of hysterotomy for abortion with sterilization was not justified, particularly before 13 weeks— and because of Jennifer’s hypertension and obesity, the risk was even higher.

Sometime between 1972 and 1978, Jennifer went under the scalpel and died of general anesthesia complications. It should be noted that general anesthesia is more dangerous for those with obesity and precautions must be taken. It is unknown if those measures were taken for her, but the abortion itself was already putting her at unnecessary risk.

Those at higher risk like Jennifer, deserve real health care, not abortion.

Abortion-Sterilization Study (Table 1 Patient 7)

1981-1985: Heart Attack after “Indicated” Abortion in North Carolina

“Valerie” underwent an abortion that was supposedly indicated by her health condition. Instead of stabilizing, she died.

Valerie was suffering from coronary artery disease. The medical journal that documented her death recorded the abortion as “indicated” and not “elective”— meaning that Valerie herself had been told to have the abortion by a doctor. It was not something that she necessarily wanted or even thought she had a choice in.

Instead of improving, Valerie’s health became worse. She suffered a myocardial infarction and died. Her death was categorized as an “indirect obstetric death” and as a complication of abortion.

Although patients with cardiovascular conditions may need specialized care during pregnancy, studies on CAD note that maternal survival is associated with a good fetal outcome, not abortion. Many pregnant patients with cardiac disorders who can receive this care have healthy babies and do not have to face the heartbreaking scenario that led Valerie and her child to their early deaths. Women with heart conditions deserve real medical care, not abortion.

Medical Study

January 23, 1913: Midwife Arrested for Chicago Death

On January 23, 1913, 32-year-old homemaker. Margaret Wagner died at Post Graduate Hospital in Chicago from septic infection caused by an abortion perpetrated on January 9. The suspected abortionist was midwife Caroline Orbach, aged about 45. Orbach was held by the Coroner on January 24. 

A woman named Mamie Williams testified that she had accompanied Margaret to Orbach's home frequently. Mamie also said that Margaret told her that Orbach had performed an abortion on her. Orbach denied having perpetrated the abortion. The case went to trial but Orbach was acquitted on November 25 for reasons I have been unable to determine. ("Woman Held as Slayer," Chicago Examiner, January 25, 1913)

January 23, 1929: A Lay Abortionist in Chicago

As was the case nationwide before legalization, the majority of Chicago's illegal abortionists were midwives or physicians, though there were the occasional lay abortionists such as Katherine Bajda, identified as a homemaker in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database. Despite not being a medical professional, Bajda benefited from Chicago's catch-and-release system of dealing with deadly abortionists.

On January 23, 1929, 22-year-old Edna Vargo died in Chicago from an abortion performed that day, Bajda was held by the Coroner on February 14. On March 15, she was indicted for felony murder in Edna's death. Three days later, while free to ply her trade, Bajda got caught with 25-year-old abortion patient Violet Diancalana dead in her home.

According to genealogical records, Edna was born in Hastetter, PA, the daughter Polish immigrants Fred and Victoria Palarz Komperda and was one of 11 children.

Source:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
• "Woman Accused in Girl's Death Tries Suicide," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 18, 1929

January 23, 1925: No Perp Identified

On January 23, 1925, 34-year-old Kate Radochouski died at Chicago's Lakeside Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day. 

The Homicide in Chicago database says that she died at the scene of the crime, and that there was an arrest on February 11. But there is no name given for the person arrested. No perpetrator was ever identified.

January 23, 1914: Another Chicago Midwife

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive database, 17-year-old Helen Klick, who worked as a domestic servant, died on January 23, 1914, at Cook County Hospital from sepsis, arising from an abortion perpetrated on January 17 by midwife Margaret Wiedemann. Wiedemann, age about 46, was held by the Coroner for murder by abortion, but was acquitted.

Wiedemann had been arrested in May of the previous year for the death of Sophia Wagner. She admitted to having performed the fatal abortion. I've been unable as of yet to determine why she was free to be implicated in Helen's death. The fact that Wiedemann was at large is especially tragic in that she was convicted and sentenced to prison for Sophia's death nearly two years after Helen's death.

January 23, 1944: The Soldier's Sweetheart

Geraldine Schuyler

Geraldine Schuyler, age 20, was a secretary at Matthewson Electric Company in Chicago when she learned that she was pregnant in January of 1944. The father was Geraldine's fiancé, a soldier in the Army Air Forces.

Geraldine turned to her mother, Leah Schuyler, who went with her on January 14 to meet one of Leah's friends, 49-year-old Mrs. Avis Konradt. 

Konradt, a nurse, took them to a rooming house where 79-year-old George E. Fosberg was caretaker. Fosberg was a physician whose license had been revoked in 1930 when he'd gone to prison for bank fraud. Fosberg examined Geraldine and agreed to perform an abortion.

The women returned to the rooming house on January 17. Mrs. Schuyler paid Fosberg $100 (about $1,700 in 2023 dollars), and he took Geraldine and her into the basement for the abortion, accompanied by Konradt.

Geraldine started to become ill on January 20. By the night of Saturday, January 22, she took a sudden turn for the worse and was quickly taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston shortly before midnight. At around 2:00 on the morning of the 23rd, she was dead.

Mrs. Schuyler told the police what had happened, and led them to the rooming house. There, police found Fosberg "in the dusty basement of the house, walking thru stacks of his old records as a physician." The police confiscated seven sets of surgical instruments.

Nurse Konradt testified against Fosberg during the trial, admitting that she had witnessed the abortion. 

Fosberg took the stand in his own defense, admitted that the three women had come to him on January 17 to request an abortion. He wept as he said, that he "resented" the request that he perform an abortion. "I suggested that she marry the man. I told her that if she had a baby she would never regret it."

The jury needed only 90 minutes to reach a decision. Fosberg was convicted of manslaughter rather than the more serious charge of murder by abortion. 

The judge had originally sentenced him to serve 14 years in prison. The sentence was deferred while Fosberg tried to get a new trial. The attempt failed. However, Fosberg's attorney argued that due to his client's age, a 14-year sentence was equivalent to a death sentence. Fosberg's sentence was reduced to between one and three years. 

I have been unable to learn anything about the outcome of the charges against the nurse, Avis Konradt. She had been granted a separate trial.

The Schuyler family had moved to the Chicago area from Decatur, Illinois five years earlier. After Fosberg's conviction, her working-class parents returned to Decatur.

Watch Nurse + Doctor = Death on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Girl, 20, Dies After Abortion; Nab Ex-Surgeon," Chicago Daily Tribune, January 24, 1944
• "Former Physician, Nurse are Arraigned on Charge of Murder," Chicago Times, January 25, 1944
• "Man Convicted for Abortion," Decatur (IL) Daily Review, May 27, 1944
• "Guilt Placed in Decatur Girl's Abortion Death," Decatur (IL) Herald, May 27, 1944

January 23, 1926: Doctor Implicated While Already Out on Bail

AI illustration

On the evening of January 21, 1926, 19-year-old Mary Elizabeth Christy lay dying in American Hospital in Johnston City, Illinois. Before her death, she made a statement before witnesses that Dr. James H. Coleman, age 75, had perpetrated a fatal abortion.

According to public records, Mary had an older brother and three younger brothers. Her father, John, was a room boss in a coal mine, according to the 1920 census, and her older brother also worked in a coal mine. Mary's job is listed in her death record as a "room girl," meaning that she did some sort of housekeeping work.

Mary finally breathed her last at 10:45 on January 23. Nobody at the hospital was willing to sign a death certificate, so the coroner was brought in. He conducted an inquest, resulting in the arrest of Coleman.

Coleman had lived and practiced in Carterville, Illinois for four decades. He was out on bail pending trial for another murder charge dating back to 1924, and he had two other non-fatal abortion charges pending. He had managed to post a total of $19,000 bond -- $15,000 for the murder and $2,000 each for the non-fatal abortions. That's the equivalent of nearly $350,000 in 2025. The only mention of those three cases I could find were all just contextual information in coverage about Mary's death.

Coleman asserted that he had never met Mary Elizabeth, and and I can't find any evidence that any of the four cases ever went to trial.


Sources:

• "Young lady Dies in the Johnston City Hospital," Marion (IL) Evening Post, January 25, 1926
• "Carterville Doctor Arrested For Death Of Mary Christy," Marion (IL) Evening Post, January 27, 1926
• "Carterville Doctor Held for Murder," Carbondale (IL) Daily Free Press, Jan. 28, 1926
• Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947

January 22, 1980: Abortion Staff Actually Follow Emergency Protocols

Vanessa Gill Preston

The death of 22-year-old Vanessa Preston seems to be a case of "all surgery has risks."  Unlike Jesse Ketchum, Benjamin Munson, and Milan Vuitch, the erstwhile criminal abortionist who treated Vanessa didn't run amok with slovenliness as soon as the threat of immediate imprisonment was off the table. If I'm willing to grant that the doctor and his staff meant well in performing the abortion in the first place, I really can't fault them for what happened to Vanessa.

Dr. Curtis Wayne Boyd, proud member and co-founder of the prestigious National Abortion Federation, once told his fellows at a meeting that he'd decided to take up abortion because his wife had nearly died while he was in medical school after the couple had arranged an illegal abortion. He'd actually started out in the 1960s performing criminal abortions.

Vanessa, a day-care worker, went with her husband to Curtis Boyd's Fairmount Center in Dallas on January 22, 1980 for a 16-week abortion. During the procedure, Vanessa suffered multiple vaginal punctures -- not the kind of injury likely to prove fatal. However, before Boyd could remove the placenta, Vanessa went into a grand mal seizure and then into cardiac arrest.

Curtis Boyd

To the credit of Boyd and the Fairmount staff, emergency procedures were immediately instituted. They summoned an ambulance and made appropriate and effective effects at resuscitation while waiting for EMS. 

During exploratory surgery at the hospital at Parkland Hospital, during which 24 units of blood were administered to try to stop her circulatory system from collapsing, Vanessa died. 

An autopsy revealed that Vanessa's uncontrollable bleeding had been caused by an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE - amniotic fluid in the mother's bloodstream) and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC - a blood clotting disorder) during the abortion. 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 at the time, Boyd and his staff didn't realize that there was a risk of DIC. To Boyd's credit, he reported Vanessa's death to the Centers for Disease Control and wrote a medical journal article warning other abortion practitioners that DIC could occur during second-trimester evacuation abortions.

News coverage of Vanessa's death reports that in the 17-year period since Roe vs. Wade, Boyd's clinic was the site of the abortion deaths of more than 50,000 unborn babies, an average of just under 3,000 babies every year.

Evidence is that Boyd's quality of care did eventually deteriorate over the years. His late-term abortion clinic in New Mexico has been accused of providing substandard care resulting in the death of Keisha Marie Atkins in 2017, a departure from Vanessa's death where, if you assume he meant well in killing the unborn child of a pastor and his wife, he didn't screw anything up.

Watch When All Efforts Fail on YouTube.

Sources:

• “Fatal embolism during legal induced abortion,” Atrash, Cheek, Hogue, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 162:4, April 1990, p. 986-90 
• “Fatal Pulmonary Embolism During Legal Induced Abortion in the United States from 1972-1985,” Lawson, Herschel W., MD, Atrash, Hani K., MD, MPH, Franks, Adele L., MD, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 162, No. 4, April 1990, p. 986-990.
• Texas Certificate of Death # 07018
• "Abortion patient dies," Corpus Christi (TX) Times, January 24, 1980
• Texas Autopsy Report No. 0190-80- 0095
• "Woman Dies in Abortion," Waco Tribune-Herald, January 24, 1980
• "Examiners withhold death ruling," McKinney Courier-Gazette, January 25, 1980

January 22, 1972: Dubious Beneficiary of Reagan's Pen

On June 16, 1967, then-Governor Ronald Reagan signed a bill legalizing abortion in California. The earlier law, passed in 1861, had allowed abortion only if intended to save the mother's life. The 1967 law allowed abortions in case of the mother's purported physical or mental health or for young teens pregnant through rape or incest. The mental health provision essentially allowed abortion on demand, since the woman could simply assert that she would kill herself were she not permitted the abortion. No actual mental health assessment was necessary. Abortions had to be performed by qualified physicians in an accredited hospital and could only be performed up to 20 weeks. The bill also allowed the establishment of dedicated abortion hospitals.

One of the beneficiaries of the new law was 26-year-old Kathryn Strong. On January 21, 1972, she went to Civic Center Hospital in Oakland, California for a legal abortion that was to be performed by Dr. Harold Van Maren. 

Kathryn's yearbook photo

I have not been able to determine the grounds for Kathryn's abortion. 

During the procedure, her uterus was perforated. According to her medical records, she suffered extensive hemorrhage and shock. 

Kathryn died the following day, January 22, leaving behind a three-year-old son. According to public records, Kathryn had lived for many years in Oregon before moving to California with her husband. Her high school yearbook showed her as active in Commercial Club, and Office.

It's difficult to judge if Kathryn's death was due to malpractice, since perforation was a known complication which could happen even if the abortion were performed with care, but, of course, could also be caused by carelessness. 

Watch Legal but not Safe on YouTube.

Sources: California Certificate of Death # 72-014193, Alameda County (CA) Superior Court Case # 447479-5

January 22, 1925: Yet Another Hagenow Victim

Lucy Hagenow

On January 22, 1925, 17-year-old homemaker Jean Cohen, a Connecticut native, died at Chicago's Montrose Hospital from an abortion. On January 31, 75-year-old Dr. Louise Hagenow was arrested in Jean's death. 

For some reason Hagenow, though a known abortionist, was cleared in Jean's death. 

Hagenow had already been implicated of the abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, Annie Dorris, Abbia Richards, and Emma Dep in San Francisco, then relocated to Chicago. 

Hagenow later noted that Chicago was corrupt and thus a genial environment for criminal abortionists. There she was connected to over a dozen abortion deaths, including  Minnie Deering, Sophia Kuhn, Emily Anderson, Hannah Carlson, Marie Hecht, May Putnam, Lola Madison, Annie Horvatich, Nina H. Pierce, Elizabeth Welter, Bridget Masterson, Lottie Lowy, and Mary Moorehead. Hagenow was typical of criminal abortionists in that she was a physician.

Watch Why Was Hagenow Cleared? on YouTube.

Sources: 

• "Mid-Wife Goes Free," Belvidere Daily Republican February 28, 1925
• "Aged Woman Held to Grandy Jury as Slayer," Chicago Tribune, March 19, 1925
  
• Homicide in Chicago Interactive

January 21, 1984: retained tissue leads to rare cancer

Nadine DuPont underwent an abortion in January of 1983. No complications were noted at the time, but Nadine had no idea of the fight for her life that she would endure for the next year.

Because of the abortion, Nadine was developing a condition that normally would have been quite rare: gestational choriocarcinoma. This occurred when the abortionist left tissue fragments in her uterus, which eventually grew into cancerous tumors. Her life was in danger even when she didn’t know it.

Almost a year later, Nadine went to Harper Hospital. The malignant tumors were no longer asymptomatic and she didn’t know what was happening to her. She was told she had a “probable molar pregnancy” and the hospital attempted to surgically remove it via suction. Nadine’s uterus was torn during this attempt and she had to be rushed back into the operating room. The internal damage was so severe that doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy, but even this did not save her life. Despite all attempts at treatment, she died at Harper Hospital in January of 1984.

Autopsy finally confirmed a final diagnosis; internal injury during the attempted treatment of what was now finally identified as gestational choriocarcinoma. Unlike most other gestational trophoblastic neoplasms or GTN (including most molar pregnancy, which was the hospital’s initial guess), GCC is highly malignant and metastasizes rapidly. Due to the way it grows, suction curettage alone was very unlikely to be effective.

It’s estimated that 1/4 to 1/3 of cases of gestational choriocarcinoma after previous non-molar pregnancies are caused by abortion or miscarriage. GTN in general is about 10 times more common after abortion or miscarriage than after birth. Nadine’s “safe and legal” abortion caused her slow, horrible death at the age of 23— one that would have been less than 10% as likely with live birth. While Harper Hospital was at fault for not treating her condition properly, the abortion caused the condition in the first place.

The CDC would not have counted Nadine’s death in abortion mortality statistics because she died a year after the abortion that triggered her fatal complications.

Wayne County Circuit Court case #85-507691 NM

The Scarlet Survey, mortality data for 1984 (see “Nadine AKA Jane Roe of Oakland County”)

January 21, 1982: Scanty Information From Georgia.

Grok AI Illustration

"Michelle Taylor" was a 20-year-old Black woman living in a populous county in Georgia that winter. She learned that she was pregnant and made a choice that led to her death on January 21, 1982 in a hospital in Augusta Georgia. 

Her cause of death was abortion complications. 

Michelle was a graduate of both high school and vocational school. It's unclear why, when, or where she underwent the abortion that cut short her life. 

January 20, 1909: Yet Another Death Attributed to Dr. Achtenberg

On January 12, 1909, Florence Wright, a 34-year-old Black woman born in Kentucky, died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from nitrous oxide asphyxiation while being treated for complications of an illegal abortion perpetrated on January 3, 1909.

Midwife Louisa Achtenberg, a white woman, was held without bail for the crime of murder by abortion. She was indicted for murder but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial.

Achtenberg appears to have been implicated as well in the abortion deaths of Dora Swan in 1907, Violet McCormick in 1921, and Madelyn Anderson in 1924.

Sources: 

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
• Death certificate

January 19, 2008: Perforated Uterus, Failure to Resuscitate

Dr. Reginald Sharpe has a history of malpractice, including the death of a 26-year-old patient on January 19, 2008. After poking around online I learned that her name was Chloe Mamell Colts.

Chloe went to Sharpe's clinic, Sharpe Family Planning in Detroit for an abortion on January 11, 2008. Sharpe performed an ultrasound and determined a gestational age of 15 weeks and 2 days.

To sedate Chloe for the abortion, Sharpe administered 5 mg of Midazolam and 10 mg of Nubain intravenously at 11:25 am. He also numbed Chloe's cervix with lidocaine. He then started the abortion.

Shortly after Sharpe started, Chloe started having a seizure. To his credit, Sharpe stopped the procedure. Chloe started showing signs of respiratory arrest. Again, I do have to give Sharpe credit for calling 911 rather than delaying.

However, Sharpe's appropriate actions did not spill over into other areas of his care of Chloe. When interviewed by the medical board on August 28, 2014 -- more than 6 years after Chole's death -- Sharpe admitted that during the abortion he had perforated Chloe's uterus, causing internal bleeding. He also failed to properly resuscitate Chloe while waiting for EMS to arrive. When they did arrive, Sharpe only provided them with scanty and incomplete information, which would hinder emergency physicians seeking to provide appropriate care. 

The medics took Chloe to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. She went into cardiac arrest during the ride, but the medics were able to resuscitate her. However, the damage had been done. Chloe died on January 19. An autopsy found her cause of death to be complications of uterine perforation during her safe, legal abortion.

Sources: 

• Death certificate
• Michigan Medical Board Complaint No. 51-15-136490 (Patient 1, starting on page 9 of the linked document)
• Life Site News

A Better Script for When an Abortion Clinic Calls an Ambulance

One bone I have to pick with some prolife groups is the way they immediately criticize any abortion facility any time they send a patient to the hospital in an ambulance. I find this short-sighted and ultimately dangerous. We want prochoice people to seriously look at claims that abortions are being performed safely, and do the women a disservice when actions might make facilities hesitate to call emergency services promptly.

I took my concerns to Grok, and ended up with this recommended template for dealing with these situations in a way that might actually get prochoice people to ask questions instead of just dismissing the story as hyperbole or hysteria:

"We commend Acme Reproductive Services for prioritizing patient safety by calling an ambulance for this unnamed woman experiencing complications. In a field where delays can be fatal, this quick action likely saved her life—contrast it with cases like Lexi Arguello, who died in 2025 when Planned Parenthood delayed care for an amniotic fluid embolism. 
However, we do have legitimate concerns about the facility's overall safety record. According to the Guttmacher Institute (a pro-choice research organization), serious complications requiring hospitalization occur in only about 0.3% of abortions. Acme Reproductive, based on state health department inspection reports, performs approximately 1,200 abortions per year. If Guttmacher's estimates hold, that should mean just 3-4 ambulance transports annually—yet this is already their third reported incident in the first three months of the year.
This discrepancy raises important questions: Are the low complication rates cited by advocates like the Alan Guttmacher Institute understated, or does Acme need to address underlying issues in training, protocols, or oversight? Women deserve transparency and real safety, not just access."
Let's put forth our assertions in a way that are most likely to lead to a healthy skepticism about American abortion practice rather than in a way that makes us look like we're always going off halfcocked.

1968: Legal “Therapeutic” NY Abortion Kills Rheumatic Heart Patient

28-year-old “Rita” was in the state of New York (but outside of New York City) when she underwent her legal but fatal abortion.

Rita was told to have an abortion because of a medical condition— rheumatic heart disease. She was three months pregnant when the “therapeutic” abortion was carried out.

Even before Roe v. Wade, “life of the mother” abortions were legal in every state. However, killing Rita’s baby was in no way a guarantee of her safety. As a side effect of the abortion, she suffered multiple pulmonary emboli and died.

The deaths of Rita and her baby are made even more tragic with the knowledge that the abortion wasn’t just lethal but unnecessary. Today, it is well-known in the field of medicine that cardiac patients are at a higher risk from an abortion than a healthy woman, and that the vast majority of pregnant patients with cardiac conditions will have a safe pregnancy and delivery with proper care. In fact, during pregnancy, stem cells from the unborn baby will migrate throughout the mother’s body and repair damage to the heart when necessary. Rita needed real medical care, not abortion.

New York State Journal of Medicine, January 1979 Edition (page 49–52)