Two of today's anniversaries

1993: Safe, legal abortion turns fatal for New York woman: On October 28, 1993, 25-year-old Giselene Lafontant lost her fight for life. She had been on a respirator since October 9, when she'd been taken to Good Samaritan Hospital after going into cardio-respiratory arrest less than 20 minutes after her safe, legal abortion. She had been 9 or 10 weeks pregnant. The abortion had been performed by Dr. Scher at Gynecare in Monsey, New York.

1947: Abortion kills baby, heiress, doctor: At 11 AM on October 17, 1947, Dr. Paul Singer, a gynecologist, called police and reported that a woman had come to his office suffering from an incomplete abortion. He said that he had taken 22-year-old Jane Ward, heir to the Drake Bakeries fortune, to Park East Hospital, where Dr. Oswald Glasberg, a plastic surgeon, had helped him to complete the abortion. Jane died on October 28, and the autopsy confirmed the cause of death as criminal abortion.

Singer was convicted of manslaughter in Jane's death, and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Glassberg was also convicted, but was never sentenced because six hours after the verdict on June 14, 1948, he committed suicide in his cell, having poisoned himself.