On September 5, 1992, a Saturday afternoon, I got a call from one of our sidewalk counselors in front of the Albany Medical Surgical Center at 5086 North Elston Avenue in Chicago. “Something strange is going on here,” he shouted. “I think you should come over!”
1992 Abortion Death Remembered
Albany is only a mile and a half from my house, so I was there in a few minutes. A police van was in the parking lot, and several adults were arriving, looking strained and somber. We soon learned that 13-year-old Deanna Bell, who was six months pregnant, had just died in the clinic.
It was the third day of a three-day late term abortion. She had been given too much anesthesia and went into cardiac arrest.
Among the people who had arrived were her grandparents. I commiserated with them, and then encouraged them to urge Deanna’s mother, Deanna Adams, to sue the abortion clinic over the death of her daughter.
She did sue, for wrongful death in 1994, but five years later the jury ruled in favor of the clinic and its California-based owner, Edward Allred and the Family Planning Associates Medical Group. Her family appealed this decision, pointing out that the trial judge had blocked important evidence needed for a conviction, not a rare situation where abortion cases are concerned.
The appellate court finally ruled in favor of Deanna’s family, and though the clinic tried to get the suit dismissed, it was re-filed in 2004.
The Hidden Truth of Abortion Deaths
We bring up this ongoing case now because of a story in the Friday, June 10, 2005 Chicago Sun-Times headlined, “Court allows lawsuit in ’92 death of girl, 13, during abortion.” The suit has been reinstated and could be reheard by the end of the year, according to attorney David Myers, who is representing the family along with Charles Hervas.
Meyers is quoted in the article saying that he plans to show that Deanna got “way too much anesthesia” that slowed everything down, including her respiration, and that nobody noticed “until it was too late to revive her.” They say the case could be heard by the end of this year.
But the Albany-Bell case is not unusual. Pro-life counselors hand out a flyer at the Albany clinic that points to other deaths at Allred owned abortion clinics around the country, all of which should be shut down.
Albany should have been shut down in 1992 with Deanna’s death, but that isn’t what happened. So in 1998 another teenager died there, and in 1999, and yet another at Albany in 2000, when a young mother with a four-year-old in tow, bled to death at Albany.
These deaths prompt one to ask, “When will they ever learn?” We hope Deanna’s case will engender enough publicity that women reading about it and thinking, “It won’t happen to me,” will realize it can happen to them, just as it did happen to Deanna and so many others, who trust themselves to a system that is virtually unregulated.
Life Sentence for Feticide
Gerardo Flores in Lufkin, TX received an automatic life sentence for helping his teenage girlfriend miscarry her unborn twins. Flores said he had stepped on Erica Basoria’s stomach in an effort to help her end her pregnancy. He could have received a death sentence under Texas law that defined an embryo or fetus as an individual, allowing criminal prosecution for a preventable injury or death.
Americans More Religious
A story Friday by the Associated Press based on a poll they took of religion in ten countries, says Americans are more likely to consider religion central to their lives than any of the others polled. Only 2 percent of Americans said they did not believe in God. The others were Australia, Brittan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Spain.
Even politicians who try to blend their religion with their politics find a comparatively receptive climate in the U.S. Among the ten countries polled, only Mexicans came close to Americans in embracing faith.
