Two Safe, Legal Deaths

I have few details on the first death we commemorate today. Myria McFadden, age 28, underwent a second-trimester abortion performed by Dr. Hazel Tape on December 7, 1987, in Washington, DC. Myria had trouble breathing after the abortion, and suffered heart and lung failure the next day. She died at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Springs on December 8.

The second death, a truly horrifying story, was fully documented. On December 8, 1994, 23-year-old Magdalena Rodriguez went to Suresh Gandotra's clinic, El Norte Clinica Medica, for what she thought was a safe, legal second-trimester abortion. Gandotra later said, "I knew I screwed up," when he pulled out bowel instead of fetal parts.

Click on Magdalena's name to learn the full story of how this quack "screwed up," costing this young mother her life.