Geneva Colton20s, 1970s, georgia, hemorrhagedeath, georgiaSUMMARY: Geneva Colton, age 21, bled to death on July 18, 1979 after an abortion at Northside Family Planning in Atlanta, GA.

Geneva Colton, age 21, a mother of two employed as a Cochran, GA meter maid, underwent an abortion at Northside Family Planning Service in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 18, 1979.

On the drive back home she was in pain, but she figured that this was just the cramping the clinic had told her to expect.

At 8:30 that evening, Geneva was admitted to a hospital, with no vital signs detected. Doctors attempted to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m., six hours after being discharged from the clinic.

The autopsy found that Geneva’s uterus had been perforated. She had bled to death.

Northside was eventually sued by their malpractice insurer because they’d allowed one of their abortionists to continue to perform surgery even though his manual dexterity had deteriorated due to multiple sclerosis. The suit by the insurer also alleged failure to meet state health standards, failure to have enough nurses on duty, failure to have proper on-call procedures, and lack of a professional director of medical services.

The clinic where Geneva’s fatal abortion was performed seems to be the same clinic where Catherine Pierce underwent her fatal abortion in 1989.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn’t supported by the data.

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Sources:

• “Death follows abortion,” Rome (GA) News-Tribune, July 20, 1979
• “Autopsy Blames Abortion For Death Of Cochran Woman,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 21, 1979, 12A;
• “State told to draw new abortion rules,” Rome (GA) News-Tribune, November 8, 1979
• Atlanta Daily Report, 7-20-94

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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