For those who say FOX NEWS is too right-wing, this shoots that kind of to hell:

"Did Motherhood Kill Anna Nicole Smith?"
Thursday , February 08, 2007, by Dr. Manny Alvarez

I am not the first to admonish FOX NEWS that this is grossly irresponsible and inaccurate reporting on a number of levels.

Firstly, Alvarez shoots his own premise to bits in the second and third paragraphs:

But with Smith dying roughly five months after giving birth to her daughter, Danielynn Hope Marshall Stern, the tragic news also serves of a sad reminder of just how vulnerable to maternal death women in the United States still are.

What is maternal death? As defined by the World Health Organization, it is "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes."

Is Alvarez a real Ob/Gyn doctor? At first one wonders: his FOX NEWS bio doesn't say where he earned his degree. In fact it doesn't list his actual degrees at all. None of his bios do.

It took some digging but this site says his M.D. is from "University Central Del Este Medical School." In San Pedro de Marcoris, Dominican Republic. It appears from the less than perfect translation of this page that

The Medicine School is affiliated with the Dominican Association of Faculties and Medicina Schools (ADOFEM) this one is filial as well of the Pan-American Federation of Faculties and Medicina Schools (FEPAFEM). Also the Familiar Medicine International is affiliated with the Center.

The Medicine school is certified by the Examining Court of Doctors of Puerto Rico, which dá opportunity to ours withdrawn to make the revalidation. On the other hand, the Central University of the East is certified by the NCMFE of the United States, causing that our students can obtain federal license for their exercise by means of examination USMLE (United States Medical License Exam).

This site says that at least as of 1997 and 2004, Dominican Republic was "reviewed by the NCFMEA and found to use standards to accredit their medical schools that are comparable to the standards used to accredit medical schools in the United States."

Even if his is a U.S.-standards-worthy Medical Degree, Alvarez's math shouldn't be so faulty. 42 days = 6 weeks. Six weeks is less than one-third of 5 months.

He does then say that "some states" consider maternal death to be within 12 months of childbirth. But where are his fact-checkers? Shouldn't he have responsibly reported whether this was the case in Florida, where she was found dead, and in how many states that is so?

Worse, his research into the actual science has three glaring omissions.

1) In September 2005, Emily reported here on the study that found that women are three times more likely to die after an abortion than after childbirth. The study, published in late 2004 in the international medical journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, shows that "just looking at the death certificates turns out to be quite inadequate." Read Emily's article on this, which also shows how the CDC has been partly at fault for "providing what are probably inaccurate figures about abortion-related deaths." [Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, Volume 18 Issue 6 Page 448 - November 2004, p. 448–455; Dr Mika Gissler, Cynthia Berg, Marie-Hélène Bouvier-Colle and Pierre Buekens] Other pertinent analyses found here and here.

In October 2004, I posted two studies on this:

2) A 2002 Southern Medical Journal study revealed that women who abort versus those who give birth are almost twice as likely to die in the two years following the pregnancy outcome. [Reardon DC, Ney PG, Scheuren F, Cougle J, Coleman PK, Strahan TW, "Deaths associated with pregnancy outcome: a record linkage study of low income women," Southern Medical Journal (Aug. 2002), [95(8):834-841]

3) A 1997 Acta Obsetricia et Gynecolgica Scandinavica Finland study found that "...the risk of dying within a year after an abortion is several times higher than the risk of dying after miscarriage or childbirth." Three and a half times more likely, to be exact. [Gissler M, Kauppila R, Merilainen J, Toukomaa H, Hemminki E. "Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994—definition problems and benefits of record linkage." Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1997;76:651–657]

This Ob/Gyn/M.D. at The Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC) says "This is the first study to demonstrate a causal link between abortion and increased maternal death in the year following the abortion."

Why is this Alvarez article so inflaming? Let fellow post-abortive Operation Outcry friend Caron Strong say it best, in her complaints to FOX NEWS with a cc to The O'Reilly Factor:

Dear O'Reilly Factor, RE: Dr. Manny's "DEATH BY BIRTH" article following Anna Nicole Smith's death.

This was written to the comments section on FoxNews.com, but I wanted to forward this to you also.

Alvarez just gave false but effective ammunition to the people coercing or lying to the women going into George Tiller's late term abortion clinic every day (among other "clinics").

TO FOX NEWS:That birthing your child increases death risk is the most ridiculous assumption ever made by and clearly supported by Fox News.

Did Planned Parenthood pay you to promote that article by Dr. Manny? It's outrageous and I have always supported and respected Fox News. This is balanced? You just paved the way for innumerable abortions. Unbelievable, Fox!

Terribly disappointed reader/viewer,
Caron Strong

If you prefer to call FOX NEWS CHANNEL, it's toll-free at 1-888-369-4762.

As I wrote to FOX, to Dr. Alvarez and to Bill O'Reilly: "My fellow post-abortive colleague and I have been studying and writing about this research for almost 3 years now and we are unpaid amateurs. What's FOX's and Dr. Alvarez' excuse for not uncovering the same published studies above that we have known about all that time?"