Katrina Pooleteens, hemorrhage, florida, 1980s, hemorrhagedeathSUMMARY: Katrina Poole, age 16, died December 6, 1988 after an abortion performed in Jacksonville, FL.

Katrina Phalice Poole was conflicted that winter of 1988. She loved her boyfriend, she wanted to have her baby. But the 16-year-old was so young, excelling in English classes at Raines High School in Tampa Bay, Florida.

She had told some of her friends about the pregnancy. Some tried to talk her into following her heart and keeping her baby. Others supported her concerns that she was too young.

On December 5, Katrina left school early. Her mother brought her to a Jacksonville doctor’s office for her 1:00 abortion appointment and stayed with her through the procedure, then took her straight home.

That evening, Katrina kissed her mother goodnight and went to bed. She was dead by morning. During the abortion, the doctor had poked holes in Katrina’s uterus and cervix. The bleeding was hidden. Katrina had bled out.

On December 6, the principal announced Katrina’s death over the schools PA system. Many students were overwhelmed with shock and grief and had to go home.

Supporters of legalized abortion would argue that though Katrina’s death was indeed tragic, there would be more such tragic deaths were it not for the lifesaving effects of legalization. Is that assertion true? Look for yourself at the numbers:

During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. The graph below, showing illegal abortion deaths in purple and legal deaths in orange, shows the number of abortion deaths in the US each year from 1940 through 2003. The first state to legalize abortion-on-demand was New York in 1970. The Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 struck down all the laws in the US criminalizing abortion. Would you conclude that legalization is what we have to thank for the fact that abortion deaths are not as commonplace now as they were in the 1930s? Or do you think there were other factors that did the job, and abortion advocates just claimed credit? Explore the question more here.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1940.jpg

Source:

• “Hard Lessons: The deaths of three students taught their friends about life,” Tampa Bay Times/St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 8, 1989

Life Dynamics also lists the following sources on their “Blackmun Wall of legal abortion deaths:: Florida Death Certificate No. 88-123938; Jacksonville, Florida Medical Examiner’s Report, 88-1392

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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