Saturday, August 25, 2007

Anniversary: Fatal infection after incomplete abortion

On August 23, 1980, 26-year-old Betty Jane Zellers Damato went to Denver abortionist James Franklin. According to Betty's family, Franklin did not remove all of the fetus. He instead gave Betty a trash bag, and instructions to collect whatever she expelled in the bag and bring it to him.

Two days later, Betty was dead from infection.

Franklin told a grand jury that he did not perform the fatal abortion. He claimed that he had examined Betty, found a dead fetus, and sent her to the hospital. A jury convicted him of manslaughter in Betty's death on October 19, 1981, and he was sentenced to prison for three years.

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