Group wants probe into woman's death (abortion, disability)

[CornField]

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/14264427.htm

Abortion opponents on Friday plan to present a petition calling for a grand jury to be convened in the death last year of a woman with Down syndrome after she received an abortion in Wichita.

Christin Gilbert, 19, died on Jan. 13, 2005, two days after she underwent an abortion at Women's Health Care Services, the clinic owned by Wichita physician George Tiller. Gilbert, a resident of Texas, was in her 28th week of pregnancy at the time of the abortion.

The autopsy stated that she died "as a result of complications of a therapeutic abortion." The most likely cause was sepsis, the report continued, and that it may have been triggered by the pneumonia she had at the time.

...

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale said the figure for Sedgwick County would be 2,520 valid signatures. Newman estimated the group has gathered more than 6,000 signatures from Sedgwick County residents calling for the grand jury.

Wonder how many of those 6,000 signatures were gathered during/in church?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I have followed this case

and it is pretty horrific. Very sad. I have never figured out how she got pregnant (was she raped?) or why she waited so late to have the abortion.

[BR_Parkway]

2. I never realized you could get a GJ convened on a petition basis

I'll have to see if my state does similar.

[Maine-ah]

3. That is a very sad story

28 weeks is more than half way through a pregnancy, why did they wait so long?

[CornField]

4. My understanding

From talking with my reporter friend in Kansas:
1) No one knew she was pregnant (she didn't tell anyone) until it became obvious.
2) It is believed she was raped and/or seduced by a care provider -- the girl won't discuss how it happened.
3) The fetus had severe abnormalities (not sure if they were incompatible with life).

[KitSileya]

5. They let her undergo surgery while she had pneumonia?

I wouldn't think that was advisable. It would be good, I think, to have a thorough investigation, if only it won't automatically turn into a witch hunt, which, given the instigators, it would seem likely to do. This way, the doctor can present evidence to squelch any rumors that he aborted a healthy 'baby', and if he made a bad choice regarding the pneumonia.


In addition, they should be working on finding out who got her pregnant - was she even capable of giving consent if she wasn't forced? If she was raped, forcibly or by seduction, by a caretaker, who else is this man abusing? That's a crime that these anti-abortionists seem not to care about.

[Xithras]

7. That's what got my attention.

My sister-in-law was denied an abortion years ago because she had a COLD. When I started reading this article, I figured that it was just another article about the religious right interfering where they're not wanted again, but that line stopped me in my tracks. ANY doctor will tell you that you never perform ANY invasive medical procedure on a patient who is already ill unless their life in in immediate danger or you don't expect the illness to pass.

[Xithras]

6. I have no problem with this.

A grand jury is an investigatory body, and it's entirely appropriate to convene one when there is a possibility of a cover-up. While I think that the "connection" between the doctor who performed the abortion and the president of the board that cleared him is tenuous at best, it's probably not a bad idea to have an impartial investigation to check it out anyway. No matter where you stand on abortion, the fact is that a woman is dead, a questionable procedure was performed (surgery on a woman with pneumonia?), and there is a massive lingering question over how she got pregnant in the first place.

I despise the messenger, but in this rare case I actually agree with the message.