Margaret Louise Smith20s, newyork, formercriminalabortionist, fetalindications, quackery, hemorrhagedeathSUMMARY: Margaret Louise Smith, age 25, bled to death on June 16 1971 after an abortion performed by Jesse Ketchum in Buffalo, NY.

Having been referred by Clergy Consultation Services, 25-year-old Margaret Louise Smith traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion because she had been exposed to rubella. Her abortionist, Jesse Ketchum, had run a criminal abortion practice in Michigan before carpetbagging to Buffalo when New York legalized abortion on demand.

Dr. Jesse KetchumKetchum performed a vaginal hysterotomy on Margaret at 10:30 the morning of June 16, 1971. A hysterotomy was like a c-section, but with the intention of allowing the fetus to die of prematurity. Margaret was then left virtually unattended until her boyfriend returned at 2:00. He found Margaret unresponsive, and begged Ketchum and his staff to do something.

Paramedics were summoned, but they were unable to revive Margaret. She was taken to a hospital across the street from Ketchum’s office, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Margaret’s vagina had been sutured, but a laceration in her uterus and cervix had not been repaired. She had bled to death.

Ketchum was charged with criminally negligent homicide in Margaret’s death. Before his case went to trial, he performed a similar abortion on Carole Schaner of Ohio. Carol suffered similar injuries had bled to death in her motel room after Ketchum discharged her.

Ketchum was convicted on October 26, 1973, despite the fact that renowned abortionist Milan Vuitch (who had challenged the District of Columbia abortion law) testified on his behalf. Margaret’s parents sued him for $350,000.

Vuitch himself, like Ketchum, had kept his nose clean as a criminal abortionist, then gone on to kill two legal abortion patients. Wilma Harris and Georgianna English both died under Vuitch’s care. Benjamin Munson, likewise, had a clean record in his criminal abortionist then went on to kill two women in his supposedly safer legal practice — Linda Padfield and Yvonne Mesteth.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. In addition to Margaret, these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

• Pearl Schwier, July, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• Carmen Rodriguez, July, 1970, salt solution intended to kill the fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• Barbara Riley, July, 1970, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease
• “Amanda” Roe, September, 1970, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus
• Maria Ortega, October, 1970, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there
• “Kimberly” Roe, December, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• “Amy” Roe, January, 1971, massive pulmonary embolism
• “Andrea” Roe, January, 1971, overwhelming infection
• “Sandra” Roe, April, 1971, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse
• “Anita” Roe, May, 1971, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion
• “Annie” Roe, June, 1971, cardiac arrest during anesthesia
• “Audrey” Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
• “Vicki” Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
• “April” Roe, August, 1971, injected with saline for outpatient abortion, went into shock and died
• “Barbara” Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
• “Tammy” Roe, October, 1971, massive post-abortion infection
• Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
• “Beth” Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• “Roseann” Roe, February, 1971, vomiting with seizures causing pneumonia after saline abortion
• “Connie” Roe, March, 1972, cardiac arrest during abortion
• “Julie” Roe, April, 1972, holes torn in her uterus and bowel
• “Robin” Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
• “Roxanne” Roe, May, 1972, given overdose of abortion sedatives
• “Danielle” Roe, May, 1972, air in her bloodstream

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Source: US District Court, Western New York, Ketchum v. Ward, No. Civ-75-79, 422 F. Supp. 934 (1976)

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