Myrtha Baptiste20s, 1980s, illegalpostroe, hemorrhagedeath, floridaSUMMARY: Myrtha Baptiste, age 26, died December 18, 1982 after an abortion performed by Orlando Zaldivar at Women’s Care Clinic in Miami, FL.

News articles indicate Myrtha (or Myrta) Baptiste, age 26, had a safe and legal abortion of her 10 week pregnancy performed by Orlando Zaldivar at Woman’s Care Clinic December 18, 1982.

Myrtha, a mother of two, went to the clinic by herself that Saturday morning, having led her common-law husband, Wilfred Conereille, to think she had gone to work.

After the abortion, Myrtha rested in a wheelchair, but when she attempted to stand up, she had trouble breathing and then collapsed.

She arrived at the hospital in critical condition due to delay of transfer by the clinic staff. She bled to death from two uterine perforations. Zaldivar could not be reached for seven hours while hospital staff were struggling to save his patient’s life.

Despite Zaldivar’s insistence that Myrtha was “fine” after the abortion, a police officer who had attended her autopsy said, “You could stick your fingers through the holes in her uterus.”

Since Zaldivar’s license was inactive at the time he performed Myrtha’s abortion, the CDC classified her death as being due to illegal abortion rather than legal abortion. This effectively hides her death from a legal abortion death tally. The other deaths at that facility — Ruth Montero (August, 1979), Maura Morales (May, 1981), and Shirley Payne (January, 1983) — were counted as legal abortion deaths.

For more background on lawsuits against the clinic, read “Abortion Clinic’s Files Seized,” Miami Herald, Jan. 7, 1983.

Sources:

• “26-Year-Old Mother of Two is Dead After Abortion at Miami Women’s Clinic,” Miami Herald, Dec. 19, 1982
• Miami Herald 12-22-82, 1-5-83, 5-4-83;
• “Third death at women’s clinic ruled accidental,” St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 20, 1982;
• Obstetrics & Gynecology September 1986;
• CDC Abortion Surveillance 1982;
• medical board documents
• “Miami police tie 4th death to abortions,” The Times-Picayune, Jan. 6, 1983
• “Miami Abortion Clinic Closed Down,” The Ocala Star-Banner, Jan. 11, 1983

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