Nancy Ward       On February 7, 1968, Nancy flew with her boyfriend from Oklahoma to Kansas City to have an abortion by Dr. Richard P. Mucie. Mucie, who operated a sinus clinic, examined Nancy and told the couple he couldn’t do anything then but would contact them at their hotel. He called at 11 PM, and arrived 40 minutes later to drive them to his clinic for the abortion. (It should be noted that in Missouri, at this time, abortion was not legal under these circumstances.) During the D&C procedure, Mucie created a one-half inch tear in Nancy’s uterus. The resulting blood loss sent her into shock, and despite resuscitative measures by Mucie, she died while still at the sinus clinic. An autopsy revealed that parts of the fetus, which was 4 ½ to 5 months in gestational age, had remained in her womb. Richard Mucie was convicted of performing an abortion which was not “necessary to preserve the life” of the patient. He served 14 months in prison before being released on parole, and his medical license was revoked on May 4, 1971 because of his conviction. But Missouri’s abortion law was found unconstitutional in the wake of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Dr. Mucie sued to overturn his conviction and restore his medical license on the grounds that since Missouri’s abortion law was unconstitutional, his conviction was likewise unconstitutional. He was eventually successful when a court ruled that Nancy’s abortion “was performed by a licensed physician in a medically accepted manner under medically accepted conditions,” and the state therefore could not have validly prohibited it “in terms of its interest in maternal health.” Dr. Mucie was released from probation and his record expunged of the manslaughter-abortion conviction. Therefore, although this death was originally classified as occurring from an illegal abortion because of the success of this lawsuit, Nancy’s death became a legal one. (United States District Court, Western District of Missouri, Western Division; Civil No. 73CV497-W-3)