LIFE ISSUES NO. 1932

ANJELICA DUARTE

You've heard enough about keeping abortion safe and legal? Let me tell you about a lady in Las Vegas who went to a man who apparently was a well-trained and competent physician. He aborted her – and she bled to death.

Anjelica Duarte was 21 years old when she went to Women's Place, a clinic in North Las Vegas. She was five months pregnant. Mrs. Duarte was married and had two small daughters, ages 1 and 3. Her husband took her to the clinic for the abortion. After the abortion, the abortionist, Larry Thompson, said that Mrs. Duarte had been observed and “was not hemorrhaging throughout the time” that she stayed in his office. As events proved, however, she had been bleeding.

He apparently became worried and about three hours after the abortion he called the fire department paramedics. They took her immediately to Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center, and when she arrived there the doctors estimated that she had been bleeding for about four hours. They measured her blood count and found that she had only one-tenth of her blood supply remaining in her own circulation.

She was in a coma when she arrived, and shortly thereafter was pronounced dead--about four hours after the abortion was started.

The county coroner, Ron Flud, listed the official cause of death as perforated uterus and hemoperitoneum, or, if you please, a belly full of blood. Apparently, what had happened was that during the abortion he had stuck one of his instruments through the wall of her womb and she began to bleed internally. The bleeding continued until she was essentially exsanguinated – that is, she simply bled to death.

The abortionist would not comment further. He said that he didn't want to make any further statements as there might be some litigation resultant from it. In her medical history Mrs. Duarte had listed no previous health problems. A check showed that Thompson did have a legitimate medical license, that he had graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine, had interned in Maricopa County, Arizona, and had a license to practice medicine in both Arizona and Nevada.

The case has been forwarded to Las Vegas County's District Attorney's office for review and, so far, to my knowledge, no charges have been filed.

So here we have another safe (?), legal abortion that was apparently done by a qualified surgeon. Well, it certainly was legal, but it obviously wasn't safe, for Anjelica Duarte is no longer with us. Not only was her baby killed, but she was too.

What are we to say? Another healthy young woman's life snuffed out? Certainly, yes, she leaves a husband who will carry this crushing guilt the rest of his life.

And she leaves two little girls who now won't only not have a new brother or sister to play with, they won't have a mother either.

[12/01/98]