Arlin della Cruz

Arlin della Cruzsuicide, 1992, pennsylvania, 19, unwantedabortion, age19, teens, 1990sSUMMARY: Arlin della Cruz, age 19, hanged herself on October 15, 1992 after her abortion at Hillcrest Women’s Medical Center in Harrisburg, PA

A woman I used to picket with in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, told me of a day she was outside one of Harrisburg’s two safe and legal abortion facilities.

HillcrestPrayer.jpgHillcrest Women’s Medical Center in Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaThe clinic was set back from the street by an expanse of lawn, with a parking lot to the side and back. Sidewalk counselors would stand in the alley, where they could call to the women as they got out of their cars. The picketers would stand on the sidewalk in front, where patients could see their signs from the waiting room.

The woman saw a middle-aged couple get out of a car. They opened the back door and pulled out a teenage girl who appeared to be Filipino.

The girl was crying. The sidewalk counselors called out to her, and she tried to move toward them, the picketer said, but the middle-aged couple took the girl by the arms and led her toward the front of the building.

The picketer called out to the clinic escort. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want to do this? I can’t step on your property, but you can help her. You’re pro-choice, right? Can’t you help her?”

According to the picketer, the escort smirked at her, then held the facility door open, to make it easier for the couple to propel the girl into the clinic.

The next time she saw that girl’s face, the picketer told me, was on the news.

It was October of 1992, and the news story was about the suicide of 19-year-old Arlin N. Della Cruz. She had disappeared from her home on October 15. A search found her hanging from a tree in a nearby woods. “Under her shirt, the coroner found Arlin’s favorite stuffed animal — a rabbit.” Arlin’s mother said that Arlin had left a suicide note saying that she wanted to go be with her baby.

One of Arlin’s friends reported that Arlin wanted the baby, but chose abortion to try to salvage her relationship with her boyfriend.

If the picketer’s observations are correct, Arlin had serious second thoughts the day of the abortion.

Abortion is associated with an increase in all forms of violent death: accident, homicide, and suicide.

Other post-abortion suicides include:

  • Carol Cunningham, age 21, who shut herself in her garage, ran her car, and died from the exhaust fumes in August of 1986
  • Laura Grunas, age 30, who shot her baby’s father and then herself in August of 2006
  • “Haley Mason”, age 22, who overdosed on pills and alcohol in April of 2001
  • “Sandra Roe,” age 18, who killed herself using an unidentified means in April of 1971
  • Sandra Kaiser, age 15, who threw herself off an overpass into traffic in November of 1984
  • Stacy Zallie, age 20, who committed suicide in October of 2002

Sources: Christian Broadcasting Network, “Pennsylvania Abortion / Suicide,” Air date November 6, 1992; personal communication

  1. 1900s
  2. 1910-1919
  3. 1920s
  4. 1930s
  5. 1940s
  6. 1950s
  7. 1960s
  8. 1970s
  9. 1980s
  10. 1990s
  11. 19th century
  12. 2000-2009
  13. 20s
  14. 30s
  15. 40s
  16. NAF
  17. abortifacient
  18. abortion
  19. abortion mill
  20. abortion mortality
  21. abortionists
  22. abortionists — female
  23. abortionists — male
  24. alabama
  25. anesthesia
  26. arizona
  27. black women
  28. botched abortion
  29. california
  30. chicago
  31. colorado
  32. connecticut
  33. cover-up
  34. death
  35. deaths
  36. deception
  37. delay in transport
  38. delay in treatment
  39. district of columbia
  40. dumped body
  41. ectopic
  42. embolism
  43. falsifying forms
  44. fetal indications
  45. florida
  46. former criminal abortionist
  47. george tiller
  48. georgia
  49. hemorrhage death
  50. hospitals
  51. illegal – doctor
  52. illegal – midwife
  53. illegal – nurse
  54. illegal – paramedical
  55. illegal – post roe
  56. illegal – unknown
  57. illegal – untrained
  58. illegal abortion
  59. illinois
  60. inadequate documents
  61. inadequate equipment
  62. inadequate resuscitation
  63. incomplete abortion
  64. indiana
  65. infection
  66. kansas
  67. legal abortion
  68. llinois
  69. louisiana
  70. maryland
  71. massachusetts
  72. maternal indications
  73. maternal mortality
  74. michigan
  75. mills
  76. missouri
  77. mortality
  78. national abortion federation
  79. new jersey
  80. new mexico
  81. new york
  82. north carolina
  83. ohio
  84. oklahoma
  85. pennsylvania
  86. planned parenthood
  87. pre-roe legal
  88. previous misconduct
  89. prostaglandin
  90. quackery
  91. questionable stories
  92. ru-486
  93. rupture
  94. saline
  95. secret abortion
  96. self-induced
  97. suicide
  98. teens
  99. texas
  100. wisconsin

Filed under: Victims - @ 2:55 am