Becky Bell

Rebecca "Becky" Suzanne Bell (August 24, 1971 – September 16, 1988) was an American teenage girl whose death was attributed to an abortion in 1988. Bell's parents and abortion rights advocates have said Bell had an unsafe, illegal induced abortion. The doctor who performed Bell's autopsy said he was referring to a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage in Bell's autopsy report. The story of Bell’s death has been used to campaign against parental consent laws. Bell lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bell became pregnant at age 17, but under a state law in Indiana, minors required parental consent to obtain an abortion. Said to be unwilling to tell her parents about her pregnancy for fear of disappointing them, or go to court to receive a judicial bypass, Bell purportedly sought an illegal abortion. Bell became seriously ill and died from a massive infection.

Autopsy

Statements from Jesse Giles, the doctor who performed Bell's autopsy, do not support the purported illegal induced abortion. Giles said he was referring to a spontaneous abortion when he wrote "abortion" on Bell's autopsy report, clarifying that if he had been referring to a surgical abortion, he would have written "induced abortion". Giles said he found no evidence of an induced abortion and that, in his professional opinion, Bell suffered a miscarriage. The autopsy report indicated no signs of trauma or infection in Bell’s uterus. Another physician involved in Bell’s autopsy, John Pless, head of forensic pathology at Indiana University Medical Center appeared to disagree with Giles, Pless said in a 60 minutes interview that he believed the source of Bell’s infection “came from the abortion at the time the fetus was removed”. However, Pless also told the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper that "I cannot prove she had an illegal abortion. I cannot prove she had anything but a spontaneous abortion [miscarriage]." Bell's autopsy report listed pneumonia along with septic abortion as her cause of death.

Parental consent laws

Becky's parents, Bill and Karen Bell, have since become outspoken opponents of parental consent laws, which they blame for their daughter's death. As of 1991, the Bell's have lobbied in 23 states and appeared on news programs. Additionally, Bell's mother submitted an essay to NARAL Pro-Choice America for use in the 1998 book Choices: Women Speak Out About Abortion. The following is an excerpt from her piece:

Bill and I decided to speak out; we thought we could prevent other girls from dying. We appeared on 60 Minutes. The anti-choice crowd came after us. They followed us. There would be crowds of people with their fetuses in a bottle, and some would say that Becky didn't die the way we said she did. They loosened the lug nuts on our car. In Arkansas, they shot a hole in the building where we were speaking. They cared more about a fetus than about my daughter. I thought, "I'm not afraid of anybody, because my daughter is dead and you can't hurt me anymore."

People ask me what I would have done if Becky had told me the truth. I would have been mad, and I would have said, "Becky, you just ruined your life. What are the neighbors going to think?" That would have been my first reaction because that's who I am. But then I would have asked her, "Beck, do you want to get married? Have a baby? Have an abortion? What do you want? What can you live with, hon?" We would have worked it out. But I never got the chance.

Abortion rights advocates have also used the story of Bell’s death to campaign against parental consent laws. The Feminist Majority referred to Bell as "the first known victim of parental consent laws”. Planned Parenthood used Bell’s story in television ads arguing against such laws. The ads show photographs of Becky Bell, while Bell’s mother can be heard saying in the background: “My Becky, a little girl who loved us so much, she died because of the parental consent laws”. Words then appear on the screen which read: “Stop parental consent laws, they’re not as safe as they sound”. Anti-abortion advocates have criticized the use of Bell's story in this sort of advocacy as misleading.

In the debate over parental consent laws, Bell’s death has been compared to the death of Erica Richardson. Richardson died approximately six months following Bell. However, Richardson, a 16 year old girl from Maryland, died following a legal induced abortion, reportedly because her vagina, cervix and uterus were punctured, causing hemorrhage and air embolism. Richardson, unlike Bell, was able to obtain a legal abortion without her parent’s knowledge or consent, since neither were required in the state of Maryland at the time. Anti-abortion advocates argued Richardson, whose legal abortion was confirmed, was a better example than Bell, regarding the implications of parental consent laws or lack there of. However, Bell’s death received significant nationwide media coverage, while Richardson’s death attracted little media attention.

Referring to use of Bell's story by abortion rights advocates, a New York Times article has referred to Bell as a "poster girl", saying abortion rights supporters have "shrewdly marketed" the story of Bell's death to keep "passions high" in the "bitter debate over abortion".

Lifestories: Families in Crisis episode

On August 15, 1992, HBO aired an episode of Lifestories: Families in Crisis based on Bell's death, which was entitled "Public Law 106: The Becky Bell Story". Dina Spybey portrayed Becky Bell, Debra Monk portrayed Karen Bell and Craig Wasson portrayed Bill Bell.

See also

• Abortion in the United States
• Gerri Santoro
• Unsafe abortion

External links

• National Abortion Federation: Patient Stories: Parental Involvement (Pro-choice)
• IMDb: Lifestories: Families in Crisis (Becky Bell episode)
• 60 Minutes (Becky's Story, February 24, 1991)

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