Pamela Modugno

Pamela Modugnoteens, travel, 1970s, preroelegal, newyork, embolismSUMMARY: Pamela Modugno, age 18, died on May 17, 1972 from complications of a legal abortion performed at Monsey Medical Center in New York.

“Danielle” is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their “Blackmun Wall” as having been killed by a legal abortion. I have since found an article that reveals her name: Pamela Modugno.

Pamela, age 18, had decided to take advantage of the liberalized law, and traveled from Massachusetts to New York for a safe and legal abortion.

The abortion was performed at the newly-opened Monsey Medical Center on May 17, 1972. Minutes after the abortion was completed, Pamela was dead. She’d developed arterial and venous air emboli (air in her blood stream). Medical Examiner Frederick Zugibe, who performed the autopsy, classified Pamela’s death as “accidental,” and said that the abortionist’s choice of a suction procedure was medically sound. However, he also indicated that the suction device might have actually created the fatal air bubble if it had encountered an unspecified anomaly of anatomy.

Pamela’s father, Thomas, sued the facility for performing the abortion negligently and for “assault and trespass” committed by performing surgery contrary to a law in effect at the time that required parental consent for any non-emergency surgery on a patient under the age of 21.

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. The facility where Pamela underwent her fatal abortion had opened just two days after New York legalized outpatient abortion-on-demand.I haven’t been able to determine yet if the director, Dr. Lester Lando, performed Pamela’s fatal abortion.

Pamela was the second abortion death in Rockland County, New York in the post-legalization era. THe first, Edith Clark, died in June of 1971,

Other women who died from legalized abortions in pre-Roe New York include:

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
“Linda Michelle Hoffman”, 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
Margaret Smith, June 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
“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

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.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1960.jpg

Sources:

“Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 – June 30, 1972,” Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 324.
“Fatal Pulmonary Embolism During Legal Induced Abortion in the United States from 1972 to 1985,” Lawson, Atrash, Franks, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 162:4, April 1990, 987
“18-year-old student dies during abortion,” White Plains Journal-News, May 18, 1972
“Abortion Death Suit Filed,” White Plains Journal-News, Jan. 18, 1973

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Pamela Modugno