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From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Maternal Death from Abortion.
Message-ID: <2623@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7-Dec-84 16:50:27 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2623
Posted: Fri Dec  7 16:50:27 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Dec-84 06:28:22 EST
References: <215@looking.UUCP> <4230@cbscc.UUCP> <10134@watmath.UUCP>, <1550@pur-phy.UUCP> <4262@cbscc.UUCP>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
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> 
> Maternal death due to illegal abortions before Row vs. Wade were greatly
> exaggerated by groups like NARAL.  Dr. Bernard Nathanson (NARAL cofounder)
> has said in "Aborting America" that they deliberately lied to the press
> and their claims were given wide and uncritical support.  The Encylclopedia
> of Criminal Law and Justice gives an estimated figure of 8000 deaths per
> year in 1958 (I think) without citing any source.
> 
> However, in Sept. 1967 the International Conference on Abortion was held
> in Wash. DC.  Its participants included doctors, lawyers, theologans,
> sociologists, and ethicists representing different views.  A book based
> on the proceedings was published called "The Terrible Choice: The
> Abortion Dilemma" (Bantam, 1968).  It says the following about deaths from
> abortion (p. 43):
> 
> 	If the number of abortions performed is difficult to come
> 	by, the number of deaths resulting form abortion is eaiser
> 	to obtain.  As one conference participant, Dr. Christopher
> 	Tietze, pointed out, those who die from abortion do so mainly
> 	as a result of hemorrage or infection.  In either circumstance
> 	they are likely to be seen in a hospital, where the condition
> 	will be diagnosed.  Those who die on arrival in hospitals,
> 	or shortly thereafter, usually undergo autopsies.
> 
The following is from "The Year of the Intern", a fictionalized account
of his internship year by Robin Cook, M.D., Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch,
copyright 1972.
 
..."Most cases of Gram-negative sepsis that I had seen came from urinary-tract
infections.  Criminal abortions were the not-so-rare exceptions.  At the
end of my gynecology service in third-year med school, we had seen so many
septic criminal abortions that an epidemic seemed to be sweeping New York.
Young girls, mostly, who generally waited until the infection was roaring
until they came in, and even then they gave us no help with the diagnosis. 
Never.  Some of them died denying the abortion right up to the end.  With
the legalization of abortion, I suppose the picture has changed, but many
times back then I saw Gram-negative sepsis set in, with the irreversible
combination of zero blood pressure, failing kidneys, and dying liver."
 
(No, this book is NOT imaginative fiction; it's "names-changed-to-protect-
the-innocent" fiction.  It's drawn from real experiences.)
 
I don't know whether Dr. Nathanson was lying or not.  Unfortunately,
the only sources of information on deaths from illegal abortion are
anecdotal.  As my citation points out, women dying from illegal abortions
tend to deny the cause, both because of societal pressures and because
of fear of prosecution.  As a result, *any* figures on the rate of
deaths from abortions must be guesses.  Even autopsy reports are only
a rough indicator; many families still refuse to allow autopsies,
and the official cause of death has been known to be laundered to protect
a grieving family's pride.
 
Many sources besides Dr. Nathanson
have confirmed that abortion-induced sepsis is not a rare disease.
It's unusual for illegal medical services to be provided in the
sort of surgically-sterile atmosphere needed to prevent infection;
the quality of tools used is almost unimportant compared to their cleanliness.
 
In an unrelated topic:  how do the various pro-life people out there
feel about the (currently-tested) "day-after" pill which causes
a 2-week abortion?  (that is, it is taken the day after a missed period.)
As an admittedly biased observer, I'm much less worried about a 2-week 
fetus than about a 5-month fetus.
-- 
Elizabeth Hanes Perry
UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy  
CSNET: betsy@dartmouth
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