Abortionist killed: national news; Abortionist kills woman: ignored
The following is a statement released today by Eileen Smith (pictured right), mother of 22-year-old Laura Hope Smith (pictured below left), who died on the table during a “safe, legal” abortion on September 13, 2007. There’s nothing more I can add.
Abortionist Killed: National news
Abortionist Kills Woman: Ignored
Abortionist George Tiller’s death brought an outpouring of national media headlines and Congressional condolences to his family by a resolution approved by the US House. Laura Hope Smith’s death at the hands of an abortionist was and continues to be ignored, and her mother’s effort to bring it to the attention of her senator was stonewalled….
“Where was the press when my daughter Laura died at the hands of an abortionist?” asks Eileen Smith, Laura’s mother. A media search shows mostly news reports from nonprofit organizations, religious news and other alternative media.
Laura’s death was mentioned 10 months later in one major publication, The Boston Globe, when the abortionist was indicted for manslaughter. It was six weeks before her local paper, The Cape Cod Times, mentioned Laura’s death, although it sought out her mother for a two-hour interview just two days after Laura’s death. Smith says the local newspaper rationalized delaying a report on Laura’s death so it could corroborate it with an autopsy report.
“Since when has news been postponed in lieu of reporting facts, except in the abortion deaths of the mothers?” asks Smith. “I have to believe that it is only because the media’s bias toward abortion determines what makes news,” she said.
“If Laura had died falling off a bike or in a car accident, it would have been in the paper the next day,” she said. “My daughter walked into that abortion facility healthy, and she left dead,” Smith said.
Smith believes Tiller’s death is another senseless killing in the history of abortion, adding to the 50 million untimely deaths of unborn babies, including the 60k viable babies aborted by Tiller. “His death is a tragedy, but so are all the lives that were taken by him and the lives of over 400 women who have died as a result of an abortion,” said Smith.
The abortionist was indicted by a grand jury for manslaughter in the death of Laura, following an investigation by local police and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. The District Attorney found the abortionist’s conduct to be “willful, wanton, and reckless” because he sedated Laura with level three drugs without any means of cardiac monitoring or blood pressure cuff; had no assistant who could administer sedation, monitor the patient, or assist in resuscitating her; and, “failed to timely initiate a call to 911.” The board also alleged that the abortionist made false statements.
“I call on the media to report deaths like Laura’s,” said Smith. “If Tiller’s death merits national news, so does a death at the hands of an abortionist,” she added.
[Photo attributions: voicesoftruth.net]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Eileen,
Excellent statement!!
With you in the fight!!
Women have died while undergoing plastic surgery. Does that make the plastic surgeon a murderer? All surgical prodecures carry the risk of death.
Is that Laura Smith in the image on the left? She was beautiful, with a warm smile.
I couldn’t express my sadness to her mother if I tried. She’s absolutely right: there’s a profound bias, and it is not fair that women who suffer from this are forced into the back.
Many prayers and happy, hopeful thoughts to Ms. Smith and her family.
Question: “Women have died while undergoing plastic surgery. Does that make the plastic surgeon a murderer?”
Answer: It does if the surgeon was “willful, wanton, and reckless” in doing whatever procedure.
There are millions of malpractice cases in this country. Why should one case be publicized simply because it was during an abortion? If this doctor did not follow safety protocols than she should be treated like any other surgeon, but to call it premediated murder is not accurate.
Libertarian,
Yes, all surgery has it’s risks, but abortion is sold as a “safe, simple procedure.” Women are not told that it is an invasive procedure.We want women to be given the true facts of the risks and after affects. Plastic surgeons are conveying the risks to their patients and pay malpractice premiums. Women having plastic surgery usually shop around and get referrals. Women in a crisis pregnancy are in a hurried panic and not thinking clearly.
Abortion clinics are not monitored and inspected. The government wants nothing to do with them. Veterinarian clinics have stricter guidelines than free-standing abortion mills.
Do you have an aversion to women being given the true facts? Just wondering…
Both of these deaths are saddening, but you have to recognize that one of them carried a heavy load of meaning, and, well, news.
I’m very pro-life, very anti-abortion, but I tend to relatively agree with how much media attention Tiller’s murder received in contrast to Laura Smith’s death.
As depressing as it may be, deaths on the medical bed as a result of reckless care happen quite frequently. It’s a horrible, horrible shame and it deserves reporting. But at the same time, they don’t carry the weight of violent murder, motivated by hate, in a church.
Tiller’s murder was very, very newsheavy. It illustrates a problem within the abortion battle – those few “lone nut jobs” – and shouldn’t go without coverage.
I have an additional question: What would your response be if the amount of coverage were reversed? What if Laura Smith’s death received national coverage to the level Tiller’s received, and Tiller’s was the one that received next to none? Would you be just as uneasy?
You can learn about the risks through google:
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/possiblesideffects.html
I should let it be known that I am against abortion because it violates the rights of another human, but all this stuff about women needing to be protected from themselves and their decisions makes me very uncomfortable. I believe people should be responsible for their own choices.
K, my cousin was found murdered in Kansas a couple of days after Tiller’s murder. The media response was a couple of blurbs on the local news stations.
Obviously I don’t expect national news coverage of his death, but I do expect the KS AG’s office to prosecute his murderer with the same vigor they persue Tiller’s.
I’m not holding my breath. So far they’ve sent the wrong remains to my Aunt and Uncle.
Libertarian:
So you’re finally admitting that abortions are done for cosmetic reasons?
C’monnnnnnnnnn. Abortion kills a human being and often done with the health of the mother as an excuse.
How many unborn childen have died at the hands cosmetic surgeons.
Do they have a motive or a suspect?
Libertarian, that assumes that all women seeking abortions have access to google. That’s simply not the case. Even if it were, it is still the doctor’s job to give medically accurate information.
Libertarian, I assume that was directed at me.
Yes, they have a suspect in custody. I don’t know all the details because the hearing isn’t til the 11th of July, but from what they’ve told us his body was found on a farm that produced meth. He was executed by someone who was apparantly his friend.
That’s all we know right now. From what I gather they were trying to shut down the meth farm but couldn’t get onto the property. Somehow it trickled out that his body was on the farm and the police were able to go in. He was murdered and reported missing in March, but they didn’t discover his body until a few weeks ago.
Hisman,
I never said abortions were done for cosmetic reasons. This post isn’t about abortion killing human fetuses. It implies that abortion doctors intentionally kill innocent women, when anyone willingly going under the knife knows there are risks to any surgical prodecure. Abortion is wrong not because it is risky to the person choosing to undergo it, but because of what it does to those who have no choice.
Did the doctor shoot her in the head? In church? Because that could account for the difference in media attention.
When a patient dies on the table, it’s rarely reported no matter what the circumstances. There’s the family to think about, for one thing. To try to compare these two events is really sort of silly.
I seriously know of no one who does not have access to Google. There’s always Starbucks. A responsible person knows how to research these things.
That’s just the thing, not all women having abortions are “responsible people.”
A woman might be a barely literate drug addict who’s being pressured by her boyfriend.
Right now abortionists literally lie to women about the procedure. That shouldn’t be allowed.
Abortion is not surgery it is killing an unborn life which is being denied their basic right from God….the right to be born and live! Science agrees that a life begins at conception!
There are thousands of murders every day in this country. And there are thousands of abortions.
And yet, this one murder of an abortionist is treated like a national emergency. Five abortionists have been killed since 1973. Is that an epidemic?
Those of you who cannot see the hand of proabort bias in this matter are not looking. You don’t want to see it.
I definitely think doctors have an obligation to inform their patients of all the risks of medical procedures. However, I also believe individuals need to be responsible for their own decisions and have control of their lives. We live in a land of freedom and opportunity, if people make bad decisions such as using illegal drugs, getting into unhealthy relationships, and not getting educated, it is not the government’s fault. It is not the abortion doctor’s fault.
Libertarain, Their is a woman on this blog, who woched her baby dying before her eyes, and the Abortionist Pigs did nothing to help her! The Pigs broke the born alive iffients protection act! I don’t like abortionist pigs! RJ
Lauren,
I am so sorry for the loss of your cousin. Prayers for your whole family!
Lauren,
My sympathies on the loss of your cousin.
Libertarian,
If women weren’t being fed the pro-abort agenda at nearly every turn, perhaps it would be reasonable to expect most women seeking abortions to research them. However, in many states, a young girl can walk into an abortion clinic pregnant and walk out baby-free with no encouragement to research whatsoever. Planned Parenthoods are set up to keep the woman from doing the information gathering.
Conversely, when a woman decides to undergo surgery for medical or cosmetic reasons, she generally is encouraged to know and research the possible risks.
Why do you think that is?
With such a setup, is it really realistic to expect most women to know what abortion really is?
Besides, most plastic surgeons would at least hesitate a *little* before putting a teenage girl under the knife. No such luck with Planned Parenthood. Heck, George Tiller spoke proudly of the abortions he gave to girls as young as 9.
The story isn’t so much that the media pay more attention to a dead abortionist than a dead abortion patient. It’s man bites dog versus dog bites man; the abortionists kill about ten patients a year, whereas somebody only plugs an abortionist a decade.
The real story is the abortion lobby’s attention to the abortionist’s death compared to their indifference to the women’s deaths. They call out the big guns to protect the abortionists, then fight any kind of safety regulation to protect the women.
Whose interests are they really concerned about protecting?
“”I have to believe that it is only because the media’s bias toward abortion determines what makes news,”
Eileen,
You are exactly right. Shame on the Boston Herald too.
Lauren,
Sorry about your cousin..
People in Chicagoland might remember two years ago when a 3-year-old girl died in a dentist office because the dentist improperly sedated her without a second person present in case of emergency (as is described in this abortion case). It was on the news for weeks. The tragedy caused me to ask some very pointed questions of our doctors when my 2-year-old daughter needed to be sedated for an MRI a couple of months later. It was important that news of the tragedy get out so that other mothers, like me, would know to ask questions about safety before their children are sedated.
It’s the same in the case of Laura Hope Smith. Women who are told repeatedly that abortion is a safe, noninvasive procedure and have no idea about this death will not know the questions to ask. By ignoring this case, the media did not do its job. By ignoring this case, the media opened itself up to criticism that it protects abortion providers.
“Women have died while undergoing plastic surgery. Does that make the plastic surgeon a murderer? All surgical prodecures carry the risk of death.”
20/20, 48 hours along with morning and evening news magazine shows have done extensive reporting on the dangers of plastic surgery. Not so with abortion.
What do ya’ll care anyway? As Rush says, she’s just a Halfrican American.
LIMBAUGH: Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. “As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry’s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,” Obama said.
He didn’t say it, but — anyway, there are those out there — greetings.
It’s obvious that the “de facto” leader has a race problem. So why do you guys support him?
Goonerman,
You took Limabaugh out of context, he has no trouble with different races. Rush sees people as individuals, not as ‘groups’ and ‘races’ as liberals typically do.
The risk for a baby in an abortion is death.
Every.Single.Time.
This should have made the news. In order to do a conscious sedation procedure, we have to have proper consents signed by all parties involved, we have to have a certain number of personnel present with specific levels of training in conscious sedation, we have to have specific cardiac monitoring equipment and resuscitation equipment available and we have to document each and every step, including vital signs every 15 minutes throughout the procedure including blood pressure and oxygen saturation levels. We must have equipment available to perform intubations and personnel skilled and licensed to perform intubations. We must have drugs present to counteract the specific effects of the exact sedative drugs used.
So yes, Libertarian, if the doctor involved did not follow those procedures, he is criminally liable and this is not just another “Well, there are risks in every surgery” type of situation. This was risk that did NOT have to happen.
Thank you so much for the prayers. Everyone is still in shock that this happened.
Lauren,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you. May God comfort you and your family and may his murderer be brought to justice.
Until we begin to think & act & speak biblically, calling abortion ‘sin’, we will never really be taken seriously as Christians. More importantly, we dismiss the revelation of God in the holy scriptures, which says that all people, aborting mothers AND abortionists, have the commandment “You shall not murder” written on their heart. Their conscience bears witness that shedding innocent blood is sin. All of us women who have committed the sin of fornication & murder know that we deserve the death penalty for our bloodguilt. We suppressed the knowlwdge of the truth in unrighteousness & paid someone to have our poor little babies butchered. Who did we THINK we would hire to hack our infants to pieces, Dr Kildare? We aborting moms are 100% guilty. We need a Savior to bear our sin & guilt with His own blood. We need to be saved by Jesus Christ. Unless we repent we will perish. Read Romans 1.
The story I heard is that Laura Smith went to the abortion clinic with a friend, who had encouraged her to solve her problem with an abortion.
That implies to me that the so-called “friend” peer pressured her into the abortion. She probably told Laura that this was the only thing to do, that her life would be ruined if she had the baby.
Now Laura is dead. If she had just gone through with the pregnancy, she would be alive today. Yes, she would have a baby, but at least she would be alive. I’m sure there would have been a way for her to cope. If worse came to worse, she could have put the baby up for adoption. In any event, at least she would still be alive.
I wonder how her friend feels now. Let this be a lesson to all you “friends” out there. Talking a friend into an abortion may not be what good friends do. You might be a better friend if you talked them out of an abortion.
Certainly Laura needed someone to talk her out of her abortion. It was literally a matter of life and death, and not just for her baby either.
Lauren, sorry to hear about your cousin! That is so heart breaking, I’m praying for you from Alaska! I’ll be praying in the midnight sun for you too, it seems the sun has magical powers here…..
This abortion dealth story should have been in the media! How dumb of the newspaper to interview this mother for 2 hours after the dealth of her daughter just so they can sit ‘n wait until it was the right time to publish it. Remember when Kanye West’s mom died on the table for some plastic surgery? That was plastered all over the news but if you die of an abortion I guess the media just doesn’t give a crap and that is sad.
Lauren,
Praying for you and your family.
Ceecee,
I am not sure the friend talked Laura into it but I will try to find out.
My roommate thought she was helping by driving me to the abortion clinic. Another friend who was prolife did not say a word.
Friends try to help in their own ways and do not realize until years later the part that they played.
The friend that drove me? She facebooked me one day to tell me how very sorry she was and thought what she did back then was so “right.” She is now prolife because of her time spent at the mill. She was as horrified as I was.
The other friend? I married him.
They have both healed my soul in ways I cannot describe by being here for me now.
You are right. Google fetal development, call a pregnancy care center, call a pregnancy hotline.
Anything to spare your friend the pain and regret of abortion and save a child’s life.
In any case, pray for Laura’s friend and Laura’s mom Eileen.
Yes, all surgery has it’s risks, but abortion is sold as a “safe, simple procedure.”
No it is not, especially D&E, which is a surgical procedure, requiring an operating room and an anesthesiologist. The patient has to be told the risk of death in any surgery involving full anesthesia, and sign a release form. Doctors do not sell second-trimester abortion as quick and easy just as dentists don’t sell root canals. They treat it seriously, both medically and emotionally.
Obviously this doctor violated a series of laws and ethical rules. He should be jailed for it.
And yet, this one murder of an abortionist is treated like a national emergency. Five abortionists have been killed since 1973. Is that an epidemic?
It’s not the quantity, it is the pattern. Four doctors killed by middle-aged, fanatical, militant white males. It has been enough to drive medical students away from learning how to do D&C’s and D&E’s to the point that there are now only 3,000 doctors responsible for the approximate 800-900K abortions performed each year in the US.
That’s intimidation. That’s terrorism. And no other occupation in the US is targeted like this except perhaps police officers.
I was told it was safe, simple and painless. My abortion was none of those things, Dhalgren.
Three-thousand abortionists isn’t enough? How many would you like?
Dhalgren,
Doctors in hospitals know how to do D&E’s on children that have already died in the womb. Abortionists in abortion mills kill the child in the womb and remove it in pieces.
Which one are we talking about?
Carla,
You just reminded me of the testimonies of abortion center owners and or doctors who have admitted to performing abortions on girls who weren’t even pregnantfor the money. These are former abortionists who have converted. Yes, thats safe and simple…
Thats what they told me too. Safe, simple and to forget about it and go on with my life. They also told me I never had to tell anyone about it. Guess they were worried that I might remember how they put the I.V. in my arm when I tried to use the phone after I changed my mind. There was no choice, they put me under and when I woke up my baby was dead.
Women have died while undergoing plastic surgery. Does that make the plastic surgeon a murderer? All surgical prodecures carry the risk of death.
Posted by: libertarian at June 16, 2009 5:31 PM
You are dishonest and we know it. Most and not all plastic surgeries are not done under general and if they are, always. always with an anesthetist or anaesthesiologist.
Pro deathers make up medical stories.
I understand your point, now, Libertarian. I have to say that I agree with you to some extent- women shouldn’t be seens as victims (unless they are really victims) and should instead be seen as individuals in charge of their own lives.
I do think that she was the victim in the sense that she most likely got her information from the clinic, and, well, they aren’t exactly marked by their honesty.
But I understand where you’re coming from. I can’t say that I agree with you one hundred percent, but I know what you’re saying now. :)
I was in the abortion clinic, I charged it to my VISA, I believed every lie I was told and my child died in the clinic that day. Did I want an abortion? No. Did I want help, support and someone to walk beside me? Yes.
Call women who get abortions whatever you want but each one of us has our own story to tell. Many have been forced by parents, boyfriends or husbands. Many begged the abortionist to STOP and were held down and it continued. Many just didn’t have a clue what was going to happen to their babies and their lives after CHOICE. Many, like Laura Hope Smith have died.
“All surgical prodecures carry the risk of death.
Posted by: libertarian at June 16, 2009 5:31 PM”
————————————-
Unfortunately, abortion ‘procedures’ ALWAYS end up with at least 50% death rate of the patients involved.
Higher, if the mom also dies in the process.
Plus ALL the other procedures are spelled out for you by the surgeon…what’s gonna happen before, during and after the procedure.
Tell me, what’s the percentage of abortionists doing THAT to their victims…I mean, “patients”.
That’s so sad, Carla. :(
It seems impossible sometimes to find good in everyone, because there certainly is good in everyone, when this happens constantly- on a daily basis- and no one seems to mind that women and children are suffering and dying. It seems difficult to look for good in people who can read history books that are filled with women from across the ages dying along with their children from abortion, and then read of all of the pain left by legalized abortion, too…and then say that abortion is great- it’s difficult to see the good in anyone who believes that.
But there is the potential to change the world for the better and humanity in every single individual who is conceived.
Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication to help women avoid becoming another number recorded in a history book, Carla. :) It makes me feel better about the future of women’s rights and children’s rights to see people like you committed (and vastly more so than I am, I’m afraid :|) to something good.
Now if only I could stop checking the internet every twenty minutes and get out and do something positive, too…
Vannah,
Thank you!!
You will be a force to be reckoned with one day I believe!!! You are passionate and willing to learn and that is awesome to see, young lady!! You will do your part for women and babies too!!
Now, let’s both step awaaaaaaaay from the keyboard….
What frustrates me is how people use the cloak of abortion to cover for plain old bad medical practices.
Like I listed above… there are huge requirements for any conscious sedation procedure. This doctor did not follow them. His patient died. Had he worked in any other field he would have had his license revoked and been faced with huge malpractice claims. But we can’t risk making abortion look bad, so everyone looks the other way?? That’s horrible! Why can’t abortionists at LEAST be held to the same standard of care as any other medical practitioner? Why does every attempt to make them live up to these standards get slammed down as pro-lifers attempting to shut down clinics? I mean, really, if the conditions are so bad at abortuaries that few or none of them can meet basic standards of care, how are we any better off than we were before legalization? Wasn’t the POINT to make it “safe”???? Because it sure isn’t safe and it sure isn’t rare… it’s just legal.
(These were all rhetorical questions, btw, obviously, meeting these medical standards would still not justify abortion to me, but the fact that abortion justifies a lack of medical standards REALLY should show just how evil this entire industry is.)
Carla,
Your posts always make me want to cry. o well-written, so heartfelt… even the happy ones make me want to cry…
Especially with the pregnancy hormones running rampant.
Keep doing what you do! I really believe God is working through you.
Thanks, Carla. :D
I’ve decided to work for children’s rights across the board: access to a quality education, medical care, ending child labor, ending abortion, working for programs to help poor children or children affected by war, et cetera.
I didn’t know that you were pregnant, MaryRose. Congratulations!
When are you due?
Thanks, Vannah! January 11. I’m about 10 weeks along.
January 11th- that’s a good birthday. :)
What? I’m not on the computer again…
1-11-10 :)
We’ll see.
What? Neither am I…. ;)
Me neither!!
MaryRose,
Don’t cry. :( God is good.
Thank you for your kind comments. I do believe you are right and I will never shut up about the lies of the abortion industry and how it preys on women.
I will continue to sow the seeds of doubt that abortion “helps” women.
http://www.outcrywisconsin.blogspot.com
I gave my abortion story in church. It is a few posts down. But then again, with hormones raging this might not be time for that!! :) Congratulations!!
Carla,
Ah, but I cry because God is good, too! I cry about everything nowadays ;) but my tears are sometimes quite happy tears.
“He rescued me because He delighted in me.”-Ps 18:19
Beautiful choice of verses. Particularly this one.
Your story is both sad and hopeful and enlightening. As usual, yo deliver your point with grace and poise. And you’re lovely, as well.
FWIW, my son is named Nathan as well. :)
Good name… my older son’s middle name is Nathaniel.
Nathan “Gift of God” :)
Thank you, MaryRose. Thank you for hearing my story. All is well. I have met The One. You know The One. He rescues. He heals. He delights.
Sorry Elisabeth. Didn’t mean to skip you. I do love the name Nathaniel as well. We had a hard time deciding. Now it’s Nate Dog.
Actually, my little guy is Nathaniel, but we usually call him Nathan :)
And Carla, yes, I’m familiar with The One.
I try to keep our relationship close :)
Same meaning… also the man of whom Jesus said, “There is an upright and blameless man” (also known as Bartholomew in some translations).
We were trying to find a good middle name for Joseph… almost settled on Nathan and then when we said Joseph Nathaniel… it flowed so well we just couldn’t deny it was perfect for him.
Elisabeth,
I agree. Beautiful name!!
The same thing happen almost happen to me for an abortion that was snuck on me at a Christian Hospital in Memphis,TN. The hospital is in total denial and arrogance, and the doctor ruled it as spontaneous abortion. It order at least 5 fatal medicines in the IV. I was given morphine and papers to sign afterwards. I was told it was food and nutrients. I was basically ignored and continuously told to go to sleep and given medicines. It is ridiculous I can’t file a criminal report and have to go through this civil mine. It is bull crapt for someone to say,let it go, you had this condition, or it was a blessing. I really see how people can go fatal. all people do is care about their ownselves. just like my situation i felt is taken lightly, history always repeat itself to those that least expect it.
The same thing happen almost happen to me for an abortion that was snuck on me at a Christian Hospital in Memphis,TN. The hospital is in total denial and arrogance, and the doctor ruled it as spontaneous abortion. It order at least 5 fatal medicines in the IV. I was given morphine and papers to sign afterwards. I was told it was food and nutrients. I was basically ignored and continuously told to go to sleep and given medicines. It is ridiculous I can’t file a criminal report and have to go through this civil mine. It is bull crapt for someone to say,let it go, you had this condition, or it was a blessing. I really see how people can go fatal. all people do is care about their ownselves. just like my situation i felt is taken lightly, history always repeat itself to those that least expect it.