Bulletin: Daniel Dougherty: Philadelphia: Inquirer; Murder/arson retrial continues; Former Philadelphia Fire Marshal Thomas Schneiders said, among factors that proved investigators got it right in 1985 when they said the blaze that killed brothers Daniel Dougherty Jr., 4, and John Dougherty, 3, was deliberately set......... "On cross-examination, defense counsel David Fryman asked Schneiders if fire science had improved between the time of the fire and the first trial. "In some areas," Schneiders replied. He agreed that although more than 100 photos were taken at the fire scene, none was shot of the ceiling; and that Quinn never tested a stereo as a potential source of the fire, having already determined that the points of origin lay elsewhere. Schneiders agreed that the first-floor living room and dining room reached what's called "full-room involvement" - an inferno in which a fire in a room changes to a room on fire. He read, or had read to him by Fryman, sections from the current National Fire Protection Association guide for scientific investigation and analysis. It warns that in cases of full-room involvement, damage at the floor level can be extensive; and that "an area of extensive damage may simply mean there was a significant fuel package" - such as a piece of furniture - "at that location." In this case, the cause of the fire is crucial."

"A photo of a singed-but-standing box of Frosted Flakes helped reveal the 3-decade-old circumstances of a fatal rowhouse fire in Oxford Circle, a prosecution expert testified Monday. The box's condition and its position in the kitchen helped determine the fire's path, consultant and former Philadelphia Fire Marshal Thomas Schneiders said, among factors that proved investigators got it right in 1985 when they said the blaze that killed brothers Daniel Dougherty Jr., 4, and John Dougherty, 3, was deliberately set. Their father, Daniel Dougherty, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder and arson in 2000. Dougherty, 56, insists he's innocent, and hopes advances in fire science will vindicate him. On the sixth day of Dougherty's retrial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, Schneiders said he based his conclusion of arson on old case-file photos, interviews conducted at the time of the fire, and his own visit to the Carver Street home. He fully supported the 1985 findings of Assistant Fire Marshal John Quinn, who said the fire was set in three places - a sofa, a love seat, and under a dining-room table. "A fire that was intentionally started," Schneiders said. "There was no accidental cause." The defense contends that Quinn had failed to recognize improvements in fire science and arson detection in the 15 years between the blaze and Dougherty's trial. The failure of Dougherty's original trial attorney to challenge Quinn on that point led directly to an appellate court granting a retrial.........On cross-examination, defense counsel David Fryman asked Schneiders if fire science had improved between the time of the fire and the first trial. "In some areas," Schneiders replied. He agreed that although more than 100 photos were taken at the fire scene, none was shot of the ceiling; and that Quinn never tested a stereo as a potential source of the fire, having already determined that the points of origin lay elsewhere. Schneiders agreed that the first-floor living room and dining room reached what's called "full-room involvement" - an inferno in which a fire in a room changes to a room on fire. He read, or had read to him by Fryman, sections from the current National Fire Protection Association guide for scientific investigation and analysis. It warns that in cases of full-room involvement, damage at the floor level can be extensive; and that "an area of extensive damage may simply mean there was a significant fuel package" - such as a piece of furniture - "at that location." In this case, the cause of the fire is crucial.  The defense expects to call its own expert to say the cause of the fire should have been classified "undetermined" and may have been accidental. Dougherty, his live-in girlfriend, and other visitors to the home were smokers. Dougherty said from the start that he awoke to a house ablaze, ran outside, then tried desperately to rescue his sons. His death sentence was vacated in 2012, becoming a life sentence. The prosecution is expected to rest on Tuesday, the defense to begin presenting its case."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160329_Consultant__Cereal_box_shows_fatal_Oxford_Circle_fire_was_set.html

 

 

Dr. Waney Squier; U.K. (Aftermath 5): The Telegraph's physician/medical journalist/author James Le Fanu: 'Doctor's Diary: "She has paid the ultimate price of the loss of her professional reputation for articulating the uncomfortable truth that the validity of prevailing scientific theories might be in error."..." "The plight of parents wrongly accused of injuring their children has been a recurring theme in this paper over the past 15 years. During this time the seemingly impregnable case against them that their child’s injuries are ‘characteristic’ of abusive trauma has become increasingly uncertain. This is particularly the case with Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) – the contention that the combination of bleeding under the skull, swelling of the brain and retinal haemorrhages can only be due to violent shaking. On the contrary it is now well documented that the same triad of injuries can follow (as the accused parents protesting their innocence have maintained) a low level fall from a bed or sofa or an episode of choking." (Must Read. HL;

COMMENTARY: 'Shaken baby expert paid price for voicing an uncomfortable truth.' by James  Le  Fanu, published by 'The Times' on March 28, 2106. (James Le Fanu (born 1950) is a British physician, medical journalist and author of several books.^[1] He is best known for his weekly columns in the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph. Wikipedia);

GIST: "The plight of parents wrongly accused of injuring their children has been a recurring theme in this paper over the past 15 years. During this time the seemingly impregnable case against them that their child’s injuries are ‘characteristic’ of abusive trauma has become increasingly uncertain. This is particularly the case with Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) – the contention that the combination of bleeding under the skull, swelling of the brain and retinal haemorrhages can only be due to violent shaking. On the contrary it is now well documented that the same triad  of injuries can follow (as the accused parents protesting their innocence have maintained) a low level fall from a bed or sofa or an episode of choking. ........She has paid the ultimate price of the loss of her professional reputation for articulating the uncomfortable truth that the validity of prevailing scientific theories might be in error.".........Many might thus be understandably perplexed that last Monday the General Medical Council (GMC) invoked its severest penalty of erasure from the medical register against Britain’s leading Paediatric Neuropathologist Dr Waney Squier, whose testimony in the courts has helped secure the exoneration of dozens of parents. The GMC’s decision is based on the findings of a medical tribunal that her testimony to the courts in six cases was “dogmatic and inflexible”, that she had selectively cited the findings of  studies to support her argument that injuries were not deliberately inflicted and that, the Tribunal said, "in your evidence to the courts and before this tribunal you demonstrated time and again that you would lie to support your own propositions, or to avoid conceding a point, showing little respect for your colleagues.".........it is now well documented that the same triad  of injuries can follow (as the accused parents protesting their innocence have maintained) a low level fall from a bed or sofa or an episode of choking.........Subsequently a group of 25 prominent lawyers, pathologists, paediatricians and neurologists rallied to her defence, asserting, in essence, that she is a victim of a campaign to discredit her. “The case of Dr Squier is indicative of a troubling pattern”, they argued in a letter to a national newspaper, “where the authorities inflict harsh penalties on those who fail to toe the establishment line.”

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/doctors-diary--shaken-baby-expert-paid-price-for-voicing-an-unco/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

The Reid technique of interrogation: From our 'believe it or not' department. The New Yorker has run an article asking " "Why Are Educators Learning How to Interrogate Their Students?" - in which it reports that " "A company that provides training to police officers and private-security personnel is now offering its services to schools."..."The training was led by Joseph Buckley, the president of John E. Reid and Associates, which is based in Chicago. Like the adult version of the Reid Technique, the school version involves three basic parts: an investigative component, in which you gather evidence; a behavioral analysis, in which you interview a suspect to determine whether he or she is lying; and a nine-step interrogation, a nonviolent but psychologically rigorous process that is designed, according to Reid’s workbook, “to obtain an admission of guilt.”.........Several times during the session, Buckley showed videos of interrogations involving serious crimes, such as murder, theft, and rape. None of the videos portrayed young people being questioned for typical school misbehavior, nor did any of the Reid teaching materials refer to “students” or “kids.” They were always “suspects” or “subjects.” Laura Nirider, a professor of law at Northwestern University and the project director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, attended the same session as Schneider. She told me that about sixty people were there. “Everybody was on the edge of their seat: ‘So this is how we can learn to get the drop on little Billy for writing graffiti on the underside of the lunchroom table,’” she said." (Must, Must Read. HL);

STORY: "Why Are Educators Learning How to Interrogate Their Students?" by reporter Douglas Starr, published by the New Yorker on March 25, 2016;

SUB-HEADING: "A company that provides training to police officers and private-security personnel is now offering its services to schools."

 

GIST: "About a year and a half ago, Jessica Schneider was handed a flyer by one of her colleagues in the child-advocacy community. It advertised a training session, offered under the auspices of the Illinois Principals Association (I.P.A.), in how to interrogate students. Specifically, teachers and school administrators would be taught an abbreviated version of the Reid Technique, which is used across the country by police officers, private-security personnel, insurance-fraud investigators, and other people for whom getting at the truth is part of the job. .........The training was led by Joseph Buckley, the president of John E. Reid and Associates, which is based in Chicago. Like the adult version of the Reid Technique, the school version involves three basic parts: an investigative component, in which you gather evidence; a behavioral analysis, in which you interview a suspect to determine whether he or she is lying; and a nine-step interrogation, a nonviolent but psychologically rigorous process that is designed, according to Reid’s workbook, “to obtain an admission of guilt.”.........Several times during the session, Buckley showed videos of interrogations involving serious crimes, such as murder, theft, and rape. None of the videos portrayed young people being questioned for typical school misbehavior, nor did any of the Reid teaching materials refer to “students” or “kids.” They were always “suspects” or “subjects.” Laura Nirider, a professor of law at Northwestern University and the project director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, attended the same session as Schneider. She told me that about sixty people were there. “Everybody was on the edge of their seat: ‘So this is how we can learn to get the drop on little Billy for writing graffiti on the underside of the lunchroom table,’” she said. One vice-principal told Nirider that the first thing he does when he interrogates students is take away their cell phones, “so they can’t call their mothers.” The training included tricks to provoke a response that might indicate guilt. One was the punishment question: “What do you think should happen to the person who did this?” Schneider recorded in her notes that an innocent person will give a draconian answer, such as, “They should be suspended/expelled/fired.” A deceptive person will equivocate: “That depends on why they did it.” Another question involves baiting the subject with supposedly incriminating evidence. For example, you might falsely suggest that the school had surveillance cameras at the scene of the infraction and see how the student reacts. At one point in the workbook, the phrase “Handling tears” appears, with a blank space underneath for trainees to take down Buckley’s dictation. “Don’t stop,” Schneider wrote in her notes. “Tears are the beginning of a confession. Use congratulatory statement—‘Glad to see those tears, because it tells me that you’re sorry, aren’t you?’ ” Buckley’s only caveat during the session, according to Nirider and Schneider, was that children under the age of ten should not be interrogated. “It was pretty horrifying,” Schneider told me. "........“There’s been a real pendulum swing,” Naomi Goldstein, a professor of psychology at Drexel University and the director of the Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab, told me. Neither Buckley nor Schwartz agreed to be interviewed for this article. In an e-mail, Schwartz said that the I.P.A. has modified its workshop to take better account of the rights and vulnerabilities of young people, expanding the portion of the training that deals with what he called “non-interrogative interview techniques.” Buckley referred me to a ten-page letter that he wrote to Schneider in February. He emphasized that the technique is not coercive when used correctly, and that practitioners take “extreme caution” when questioning juveniles. Schneider said that this runs counter to what she observed and does nothing to alleviate her organization’s concerns. “What a lot of students need is a sense that there are adults in authority they can trust,” she said. Reid-style techniques, she added, can undermine that trust. “We don’t think this kind of training should be offered at all.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-are-educators-learning-how-to-interrogate-their-students

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

Bulletin: Anna Yocca: Tennessee; Originally charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to kill her 24-week-old fetus with a coat hanger, she has been indicted on a lesser charge of aggravated assault. Reuters.

"A Tennessee woman originally charged with attempted murder after trying to kill her 24-week-old fetus with a coat hanger has been indicted on a lesser charge of aggravated assault, officials said on Wednesday.........Yocca, who in December pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, did not enter a plea on the assault charge on Tuesday. The original indictment, handed down Dec. 1 by a Rutherford County grand jury, said Yocca "did unlawfully and intentionally with premeditation attempt to kill" the fetus. Yocca was charged with attempting in September to abort the fetus in a bathtub filled with water, Murfreesboro Police said. She began bleeding heavily, and her boyfriend took her to a hospital. The next hearing in the case was scheduled for March 29. Under Tennessee law, an abortion must be performed by a licensed physician and is restricted by viability, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health policies. Tennessee has 14 abortion providers, none of which provides abortions after 16 weeks, according to the Tennesseean newspaper.

http://news.trust.org/item/20160316184042-8ofnh

See earlier post: "The coat hanger abortion is back, and that’s scary for all women. If a woman can be charged with attempted murder for trying to give herself an abortion, what stops police from investigating miscarriages? "The coat hanger is just the beginning; To be sure, it's shocking to see a new case of a "coat hanger abortion" — the symbol of pre–Roe v. Wade America, when women died or were maimed by the thousands every year because they were that desperate to end their unwanted pregnancies. "I never thought I would hear of a coat hanger abortion in my medical life,"" writes OB-GYN Jen Gunter. "But here's the most alarming part of Yocca's case: Abortion is still legal in America. Yocca is being prosecuted as if it weren't. She is being charged with attempted first-degree murder. That's a dangerous legal precedent for all pregnant women."

 http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2015/12/anna-yocca-tennessee-coat-hanger.html

Nausheen Rahman: New York; Purvi Patel: Indiana; Bei Bei Shuai: Indiana; Eesha Pandit (Salon) discusses the case of a Staten Island woman charged with the murder of her newborn in which "nobody is asking the right questions about it."..." This phenomenon occurs across the spectrum — so many of us face the shame, silence and isolation trifecta. Those who become pregnant out of wedlock, those who want an abortion but are told it is a sin, those who become pregnant and are drug-dependent, those who are LGBTQ, those who want an abortion and can’t get one because they are too poor, too far away from a clinic, or too ashamed. Those who need mental health support. Those who feel backed into a corner with no way out. This is a conversation to be had in our diverse communities, hardly any of which are immune to perpetuating shame and silence. This is a conversation that should certainly include reproductive rights, since we know that the legalization of abortion in 1973 precipitated a significant drop in the numbers of infanticide in the U.S."

 
STORY: "The conversation we need to have about infanticide," by reporter Eesha Pandit, published by 'Salon' on March 26, 2016.

SUB-HEADING: "A Staten Island woman is charged with the murder of her newborn, but nobody is asking the right questions about it."

GIST: "The chronology of events reeks of desperation and disconnection. Twenty-eight-year-old Nausheen Rahman gave birth to a baby girl, alone, in her family’s Staten Island condo. The accounts of what happened next are contested. She’s been charged with the murder of her newborn, a baby girl, and then disposing of the body in a trash can outside the home where she lives with her parents and two younger brothers. Her family claim that they didn’t know Ms. Rahman was pregnant. The Staten Island assistant district attorney, Jane Grinberg, made the case that this was a violent, horrific act for which Ms. Rahman should be punished. Because she has relatives outside the United States, Judge Raja Rajeswari ordered that Ms. Rahman be held at Rikers Island Jail without bail. She will remain there while she awaits trial. If the prosecution’s case is true, what would cause a woman like Nausheen Rahman to do what she did? If the events are not what they say, and Ms. Rahman didn’t kill her baby, then what happened, and why? The facts as presented by the prosecution thus far bear striking similarity to the case of Purvi Patel in Indiana. Patel, a 33-year-old Indian American woman, lived with her parents and grandparents, took care of them and worked at the family store. Last year, she became the first woman in the United States to be convicted and sent to prison for feticide. She asserts that she had a miscarriage. Asian American women are certainly targets for bias, and, consequently, prosecution. In 2011, Indiana prosecutors charged Bei Bei Shuai with attempted feticide and murder. Ms. Shuai, a Chinese immigrant, attempted suicide unsuccessfully, and then delivered a baby that died soon after birth. She wasn’t offered mental health care, or community support. Instead, she was held without bail for over a year. In the face of more prison time, Ms. Shuai accepted a plea deal to a lesser charge.......... This phenomenon occurs across the spectrum — so many of us face the shame, silence and isolation trifecta. Those who become pregnant out of wedlock, those who want an abortion but are told it is a sin, those who become pregnant and are drug-dependent, those who are LGBTQ, those who want an abortion and can’t get one because they are too poor, too far away from a clinic, or too ashamed. Those who need mental health support. Those who feel backed into a corner with no way out. This is a conversation to be had in our diverse communities, hardly any of which are immune to perpetuating shame and silence. This is a conversation that should certainly include reproductive rights, since we know that the legalization of abortion in 1973 precipitated a significant drop in the numbers of infanticide in the U.S."

The entire story can be  found at:

http://www.salon.com/2016/03/23/the_conversation_we_need_to_have_about_infanticide/

See India West report on her indictment: "New York woman who dumped newborn in trash indicted."..."The actions of this defendant are so horrendous and so reprehensible that it shocks one’s conscience,” Jane Grinberg, an assistant district attorney, said at the March 14 court hearing, according to the Times report. Grinberg said that Rahman had seen a doctor about her pregnancy, but that she kept it a secret from her parents. (Defence lawyer) Rosas said he doubted the prosecution’s version of events. Neighbors around the Honey Bee Condominiums on Staten Island, where Rahman lived with her parents and two younger brothers, said they had no idea she was pregnant. She often wore traditional clothes from India, they said, and the fabrics hung loose around her frame, reported the Times, adding that Judge Raja Rajeswari ordered her to held without bail. Rahman’s arraignment is scheduled for March 30."

http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/new-york-woman-who-dumped-newborn-in-trash-indicted/article_6a3957c4-f2c0-11e5-9ba7-5fee22b11eb8.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

Bulletin: Dr. Waney Squier: U.K. (Aftermath 4); Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith responds in 'The Guardian' to the head of the British General Medical Council's defence of its actions that "the decision had nothing to do with the legitimacy of shaken baby syndrome (SBS), but rather “her competence and conduct in presenting her evidence to the courts”....The response: "With respect, he is just wrong. At the hearing, Dr Squier was specifically forbidden from contesting the central issue at stake – whether SBS is a legitimate diagnosis. Along with an increasing number of others close to the subject, I believe it to be an unproven hypothesis, not science. So does one of the people who came up with the theory 50 years ago, a doctor now horrified at how it is being abused. If we are right, then the people who mislead the court (albeit perhaps unintentionally) are those who purvey an unproven theory as fact. And what is the greater ill – that Dr Squier should prevent people from losing their children or being sent to prison based on a hypothesis, or that other doctors should condemn a slew of innocent people (often, in the US where I practice, sending them to death row)?" (Must Read. HL);

"Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, disputes our conclusion that, in striking off Dr Waney Squier, the GMC acted as a latter-day inquisition (Letters, 22 March). He begins by saying that the decision had nothing to do with the legitimacy of shaken baby syndrome (SBS), but rather “her competence and conduct in presenting her evidence to the courts”. With respect, he is just wrong. At the hearing, Dr Squier was specifically forbidden from contesting the central issue at stake – whether SBS is a legitimate diagnosis. Along with an increasing number of others close to the subject, I believe it to be an unproven hypothesis, not science. So does one of the people who came up with the theory 50 years ago, a doctor now horrified at how it is being abused. If we are right, then the people who mislead the court (albeit perhaps unintentionally) are those who purvey an unproven theory as fact. And what is the greater ill – that Dr Squier should prevent people from losing their children or being sent to prison based on a hypothesis, or that other doctors should condemn a slew of innocent people (often, in the US where I practice, sending them to death row)? It is illogical to condemn Dr Squier for “cherrypicking” facts that are inconsistent with an unproven theory: if there are findings that call SBS into question, then that obviously casts doubt on the theory. And it is equally unrealistic to accuse her of lacking sufficient expertise in SBS: the very nature of forensic science (if it is science at all) is that experts do not spend their time training in anti-science. The charity where I work (Reprieve) has recently identified more than 100 people had been executed in the US based, in part, upon the application of a forensic pseudo-science that has belatedly been renounced by its main proponent, the FBI. Over Easter, it is worth pausing to question whether any of the dead prisoners will be resurrected. One day, I suspect we will accept that SBS is also pseudo-science. With Dr Squier now struck off, and all other experts afraid of entering a British courtroom, Mr Dickson must ponder how many parents and carers will be unjustly condemned in the meantime."
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/25/science-shaken-baby-syndrome

Kenlissa Jones. (Georgia): Purvi Patel. (Indiana): The Nation article reports that as abortion restrictions in the U.S. ramp up, more women are weighing taking matters into their own hands; "Last week, a group of legal experts who have spent the last year reviewing the legal landscape of self-induced abortion in the United States hosted a webinar to share what they’ve learned about the risks and opportunities associated with abortions that happen outside the healthcare system. It’s a topic that has been in the news a lot in recent years, including the case of Purvi Patel, the Indiana woman who was convicted of feticide in connection with an alleged self-induced abortion and is now serving 20 years in prison. Last year, Kenlissia Jones in Georgia was arrested and charged with murder for her use of the drug misoprostol to terminate her pregnancy. The charge was eventually dropped, but a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous drug was not. There have been 17 known arrests or convictions connected to at-home abortions, according to the newly launched Self-Induced Abortion (SIA) Legal Team. The team has identified 40 laws nationwide—including fetal homicide, chemical endangerment, accomplice liability—that are potentially broken when someone terminates a pregnancy with help from a doula, babysitter, or someone else in a support role. The newly formed team is made up of self-described movement lawyers from Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law, Reproductive Health Technologies Project, Law Students for Reproductive Rights, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and other organizations. The group sees stopping the criminalization of self-induced abortion as one of its goals and said this week that it will represent those in legal trouble or connect those in need with a trusted attorney."

STORY: "As Abortion Restrictions Ramp Up, More Women Weigh Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands," by reporter Dani McClain Twitter, published by The Nation on March 21, 2016.

SUB-HEADING:  "Finding ways to support those who choose to self-induce abortion does not mean abandoning the fight to preserve access in clinics and hospitals."

GIST: "A recent New York Times op-ed reported that last year there were 700,000 Google searches for how to self-induce abortion. Compare this number to the 1 million legal abortions estimated to take place each year. The connection between the attack on abortion rights and a spike in the number of people turning to the Internet for answers is clear: The state with the highest rate of searches was Mississippi, which has one remaining clinic as the result of laws passed in the state to limit access to abortion. In 2011, online searches for how to accomplish a do-it-yourself abortion jumped 40 percent, according to the Times. That same year, 92 provisions restricting access were enacted nationwide. Last week, a group of legal experts who have spent the last year reviewing the legal landscape of self-induced abortion in the United States hosted a webinar to share what they’ve learned about the risks and opportunities associated with abortions that happen outside the healthcare system. It’s a topic that has been in the news a lot in recent years, including the case of Purvi Patel, the Indiana woman who was convicted of feticide in connection with an alleged self-induced abortion and is now serving 20 years in prison. Last year, Kenlissia Jones in Georgia was arrested and charged with murder for her use of the drug misoprostol to terminate her pregnancy. The charge was eventually dropped, but a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous drug was not. There have been 17 known arrests or convictions connected to at-home abortions, according to the newly launched Self-Induced Abortion (SIA) Legal Team. The team has identified 40 laws nationwide—including fetal homicide, chemical endangerment, accomplice liability—that are potentially broken when someone terminates a pregnancy with help from a doula, babysitter, or someone else in a support role.

The newly formed team is made up of self-described movement lawyers from Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law, Reproductive Health Technologies Project, Law Students for Reproductive Rights, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and other organizations. The group sees stopping the criminalization of self-induced abortion as one of its goals and said this week that it will represent those in legal trouble or connect those in need with a trusted attorney."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.thenation.com/article/as-abortion-restrictions-ramp-up-more-women-weigh-taking-matters-into-their-own-hands/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.