Family of Detroit Girl Who Died From Abortion Speaks Out
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
April 9, 2004
Detroit, MI (LifeNews.com) — At a press conference outside the WomanCare of Southfield abortion facility, Nicole Redden told reporters about her 15-year-old cousin’s death that followed a late-term abortion there.
"This stuff needs to stop," said Redden. "People need to take a first hand look at what happens here."
Redden said the abortion business acted out of interest in "money and greed" when they performed an abortion on her cousin, Tamiia Russell, who was six months pregnant.
Taisha Glenn, the sister of Russell’s 24-year-old boyfriend, Stacy Glenn, had taken Russell to the abortion facility on January 7 without permission or notifying Russell’s mother or guardian.
"A woman off the street took her in," said Redden. "She had no parental authority."
Glenn and Russell went to five other abortion facilities before coming to WomanCare. The other abortion businesses turned them away because Russell was too far along in her pregnancy, Redden said.
"They literally went shopping," Redden told reporters. "One even offered prenatal care and vitamins."
Redden said that Tamiia used an identification card with another woman’s picture to state she was 19, as abortions cannot be performed on minors in Michigan without parental consent.
According to Redden, the woman in the picture ID looked nothing like Russell — but the abortion was done anyway.
The facility vaginally inserted laminaria, a seaweed used to begin dilation. Russell was sent home, where she confessed to her family that she was pregnant and had begun the abortion procedure.
When her mother and aunt called WomanCare, they said the abortion could not be stopped once the laminaria is inserted.
However, according to eMedicine Journal, though there are some medical risks, "pregnancies have safely been carried to term after laminaria insertion and removal." In fact, many crisis pregnancy centers offer laminaria removal for women who have changed their minds after beginning an abortion procedure.
Russell’s mother drove her daughter to the abortion facility the next day to finish the abortion, which was performed by Alberto Hodari. Upon her return home, she experienced severe bleeding — "so much so she soaked an entire mattress," Redden told LifeNews.com.
WomanCare told her family that such bleeding was "normal" following an abortion, and not to take her to the hospital.
Concerned for Russell, the family called paramedics who rushed her to Sinai-Grace Hospital. Russell died on the way to the Hospital.
Steven Brown of the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office told LifeNews.com the cause of death for Russell was listed as, "Uterine infarction with sepsis, due to status post second trimester abortion."
Stacy Glenn, according to Frances Russell, Tamiia’s mother, is an alleged drug dealer who has not been located since Russell’s death. He paid the $2000 for Russell’s abortion.
Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D., director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, told reporters of 23 lawsuits from the past 20 years that had been filed against WomanCare facilities and Alberto Hodari. All had been dismissed, with many referring to an undisclosed settlement. The suits were filed for various injuries suffered as the result of abortions, including hysterectomies on 19, 22, and 23-year-old women.
In the case of Chivon Williams, her 1996 abortion at the hands of Alberto Hodari also resulted in her death.
Carolyn Anderson of True Love Christian Ministries decried both the injustice done to Russell and her family and the NAACP’s resent endorsement of a pro-abortion position.
"African American women make up 13 percent of the population, but account for 36 percent of abortions," noted Anderson.
Geoffrey Fieger, the attorney known for his defense of assisted suicide activist Jack Kevorkian, is apparently representing the family in its lawsuit. No one from Fieger’s firm was present at the press conference.
Oakland County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jim Halushka told LifeNews.com that his office has reviewed an initial investigation by police into the abortion. If the abortion facility knew that Russell was under 18, they could be charged with a misdemeanor for performing an abortion on a minor. The investigation was turned back over to police for further investigation.
State Attorney General Mike Cox told WDEO Radio by email that he is looking into the incident, and one of his staff confirmed the state’s interest in the case.
As Russell resided in Wayne County, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has jurisdiction over the statutory rape. However, as the family apparently did not know Russell was pregnant until the day before she died, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office told LifeNews.com Thursday that there may not be a case – the parents or guardians must make the complaint, and once the minor is dead, the complaint of statutory rape cannot be filed.
The uterine infarction that killed Russell was due to blockage in her uterine blood vessel and the resulting sepsis infection is what also caused the death of Holly Patterson in California. Patterson had been given the abortion drug RU 486 by a California Planned Parenthood facility, which had also not notified her parents.
"I don’t want this to happen to anyone else," Redden told reporters. She says she plans to speak at schools to encourage young people to seek help for problems from their loved ones.
"I want to tell them, ‘No secret is worth your life,’" Redden said.
