Same Song, Five Different Verses

Grace Wolf, a young married woman, traveled from her home in Lansing to the office of Dr. C. Allen Snyder in Dubuque, Iowa, on November 19, 1917. Shortly after leaving, she took ill, and her condition deteriorated until her death on December 3. The autopsy had found evidence of recent pregnancy and a puncture in Grace's uterus. Snyder was prosecuted, largely based on Grace's dying declaration naming him as the perpetrator. Snyder's defense argued that Grace was already sick from fever and septicemia when she arrived at his office, and that he treated her only briefly. Snyder was convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

On December 2, 1977, 29-year-old Jacqueline Bailey was injected with saline by Dr. Eboreime for an instillation abortion at Pacific Glen Hospital in Los Angeles County. Five hours after Jackie expelled the dead baby, her condition appeared grave. Shortly after midnight, she was transferred to Memorial Hospital of Glendale. Doctors at Memorial suspected a uterine laceration, so they performed exploratory surgery. The bleeding was so profuse that they then performed a hysterectomy in a last-ditch attempt to save her life. Jackie died just before sunrise on December 3. The autopsy report found that Jackie's uterus had ruptured during the abortion, and that her uterine artery had been lacerated. She had bled to death from her injuries. Two years earlier, Cheryl Tubbs also bled to death from a ruptured uterus caused by a saline abortion at Pacific Glen.

Cora Mae Lewis was 23 years old when she went to Inglewood Women's Hospital (aka Inglewood Women's Clinic) in Los Angeles County for a safe and legal abortion on November 4, 1983. She had gonorrhea at the time of the abortion, which led to inflammation of the cervix and uterus. Cora developed fever and chills after her abortion, and was finally admitted to a hospital on November 11. She was aggressively treated, but died December 3 from pneumonia and lung abscess contributed to by the uterine and cervical inflammation.
Other deaths at Inglewood include Yvonne Tanner, Kathy Murphy, Belinda Byrd,Lynette Wallace, and Elizabeth Tsuji.

Abortionist Andre Nehorayoff performed a safe and legal abortion on 18-year-old "Ellen" Roe on November 29, 1983. After the abortion, Nehorayoff discharged Ellen even though he had not removed or identified all fetal parts. Two days later, Nehorayoff received a lab report confirming that there was still a lot of fetal tissue in Ellen's body. Nehorayoff noted no attempt to notify Ellen of the incomplete abortion. At 5:10 AM on December 3, Ellen was rushed to an emergency room in a coma. An hour later, she was pronounced dead from hemorrhaging due to the incomplete abortion. Nehorayoff was also disciplined regarding the death of Patient F.

Teresa Causey clutched her mother's hand during her safe and legal abortion, perpetrated by Joe Wesley McDaniel on December 3, 1988. Her mother later said that 17-year-old Teresa's last words were, "Oh, mama, mama, it hurts so much!" Then she lost consciousness on the abortion table. When McDaniel was unable to awaken her, he tried smelling salts, slapped her face, then tried to reach another doctor before finally calling an ambulance. Teresa died of massive hemorrhage the day of her abortion from two uterine perforations and two lacerated veins. She left behind two children.