Catherine Furey, Mother Of Five, Died After Drinking Vinegar In 'Home Abortion'

Catherine Furey, a 38-year-old mother of five from Salford, UK died after drinking industrial-strength vinegar in an attempted at-home abortion, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Furey's sister-in-law, 33-year-old Dawn Chadwick, was charged with manslaughter for supplying the concentrated substance, but has now been cleared of any charges 18 months after the incident, which occurred on Dec. 1, 2010.

It was only after the investigation was completed that police made the details of the case available to the press, according to the Manchester Evening News.

All the while, Chadwick's family maintained that she never should have been prosecuted.

"Dawn has significant learning difficulties and should never have been charged with the initial charge of supplying a noxious substance to cause an abortion," Alex Preston, the family's lawyer, told the paper.

While the family is pleased that the charges against Chadwick have been dropped, Furey's husband, Craig, told the Daily Mail he was still too upset over his wife's death to discuss the matter.

According to reports, Furey is believed to have researched the abortion method on the Internet.

Family Planning Association spokeswoman Natika H. Halil told the Manchester Evening News that the Internet is full of myths about pregnancy termination techniques and that women should consult their doctors when considering abortion.

"We know that there are many myths and misinformation about abortion on the internet," Halil told the paper. "That's why it's so important to use trusted sources to gain accurate information on how to access abortion services."

In the United States, the issue of dangerous abortion procedures recently surfaced on the floor of the Mississippi State Senate in April when a bill to remove the state's last abortion clinic was being debated.

Taking issue with the legislation, State Sen. Kenny Wayne Jones asked Senate Public Health Committee Chair Sen. Dean Kirby if he thought eliminating abortions in the state would lead to back-alley abortions.

"That's what we're trying to stop here, the coat-hanger abortions," Kirby replied, though he was referring to abortions that took place inside the clinic.

The bill was eventually passed and will take effect on July 1.

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Comments

[josh slatter]

02:12 AM on 07/30/2012

Well you lose a mother and a baby abortion has never been the answer. Ive noticed everyone in favor of abortion has already been born.

[Jonathan Munoz]

05:20 PM on 05/25/2012

This is why we need legal safe abortion. So this doesn't happen. If the GOP keep this up more people will die trying to abort unsafely.

Pro-choice all the way.

[frank1es]

06:47 PM on 05/26/2012

Reminds me of when some idiot blows his hand off with a fire cracker we need to make them all illegal, or when someone gets drunk and hits his wife we have to have prohibition.

Tell me this isn't your best argument to be pro-abortion?

[ready1923]

04:41 PM on 05/27/2012

We have safe, legal abortion now.............

[Jonathan Munoz]

04:48 PM on 05/27/2012

but GOP teabaggers are hard at work making it harder, and defunding Planned Parenthood. I know we have it, we need to keep having it

[scrapper7]

10:19 PM on 05/24/2012

With abstinence, a cold shower or a trip to the market, she would be alive today and five children would not be motherless.

[Trapped in Paradise]

11:47 PM on 05/24/2012

Where's a thumbs down button when you need one.

[plepgeat]

03:37 AM on 05/25/2012

I guess her accidental death by self-poisoning was just part of God's plan.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:03 PM on 05/29/2012

It was certainly apart of evolution. She was too stupid to live.

[mother10]

10:13 PM on 05/24/2012

WOMEN always have to pay the price for everything ! I wish men could get pregnant too....

[frank1es]

06:48 PM on 05/26/2012

That's totally rational. Men don't pay child support do they?

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:04 PM on 05/29/2012

Yeah. Her children pay the price because she decided to use vinegar instead of going to a doctor in a country where abortion is NOT legal and where it is FREE.

[fivemillion1]

10:59 AM on 05/24/2012

Welll, abortion is always wrong and ALWAYS dangerous. Dont believe me check out the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=573IZ7XDaVQ&feature=player_embedded

[fivemillion1]

03:45 PM on 05/24/2012

They used to say that about slavery "Dont like Slavery? Dont own one." is that what you mean?

[Slayer503]

04:04 PM on 05/24/2012

Slavery has no choice for the slave involved. And your counter argument to this will inevitably be, "well the fetus doesn't have a choice either," right? Of course not, a fetus is not a person. A fetus is a fetus, by definition. They have no legal rights. If they did, they'd have to have a social security card, which they don't, so by your crazy logic, then they'd be an illegal alien, in which you'd want them sentenced to death or thrown over some imaginary wall.

[jadeaic]

10:56 AM on 05/24/2012

Condoms would have been much easier.

[Joanne Cee]

06:14 PM on 05/23/2012

How senseless and sad. I have to wonder, if there's lots of dangerous internet recipes for DIY abortions - who's putting that out there, people who hope women who try to perform a DIY abortion will inadvertently kill themselves?

No need for this to happen, but of course I feel terrible for this woman and her family. Far too high a price to pay for a foolish decision.

[MelanieGagnon]

10:35 AM on 05/23/2012

Now there's 5 kids with no mother... from the looks of it no father either. Now what is the cost of contraception in the UK? With 5 children it's complete negligence to keep having intercourse with no contraceptive methods when you know you can not afford to have any more children. There's also the issue of adoption. So maybe people would love to adopt. There are so many services for adoptive parents where they will cover the cost of medical visits for the expecting mother and cost of maternity clothes. People need to be more aware of their choices.

[The Beermonster]

11:26 AM on 05/23/2012

"Now what is the cost of contraception in the UK?"
£0.00
Contraception is free on the NHS. No prescription charge, nothing.

[SidTheScienceKid]

01:40 AM on 05/30/2012

Is it legal ?
There seems to be quite amfew details missing to complete the context for this mishap.

[synergie]

02:37 AM on 05/24/2012

They have a father, just not a grandfather.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:10 PM on 05/29/2012

Abortions are free on the NHS as well. The entire thing was senseless. I have a hard time sympathizing with this woman, but perhaps she was mentally ill and couldn't help self-destructing herself.

[jgfsmf]

09:54 AM on 05/23/2012

She wasn't a freaked out teenager, she was the mother of five children. She should have known better. Surely she had a doctor and enough money to pay for an abortion. Then again she had five children. Maybe they didn't have money left. But still.....

[The Beermonster]

11:31 AM on 05/23/2012

Abortions are free at the point of delivery on the NHS. The NHS funds about 94% of abortions performed in the UK with only 6% being paid for privately.

[jgfsmf]

12:03 PM on 05/23/2012

Wow, didn't know that, thanks.

[Trapped in Paradise]

11:51 PM on 05/24/2012

If that is true, why on earth would she do this? This seems so insane.

[synergie]

02:38 AM on 05/24/2012

She was desperate and not thinking properly, something about being traumatized by the death of her father.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:13 PM on 05/29/2012

Desperate? Not thinking properly? What does performing an unsafe abortion on yourself in a country where abortion is safe, legal and free have to do with losing a father? I have lost my father and I doubt I would have risked killing myself so my children could go through with what I have suffered. It still doesn't explain why she didn't go in and get a proper abortion done when the option was available to her?

[Carriann Frye]

02:44 AM on 05/23/2012

Those poor kids. I feel so bad for her family! I hope this never happens to another family ever again. This is why women need access to real abortion services without having to jump through hoops.

[Fenrir Lokison]

10:57 PM on 05/22/2012

I have no sympathy for this the woman who killed herself. Nor for those who suffer for abortions, be it self-induced or done by a professional baby killer.

And now I am not talking about women who really have to make a choice about life. Or who are in an accident and a decision is made to save the woman's life. I am talking about those who give up their bodies and then kill another to avoid the results of their pleasure.

[Heather Husband Ruseskas]

12:31 AM on 05/23/2012

Do you have any sympathy for her five motherless children? Or her wifeless husband? Do you know what her every day was like that you are qualified to make such harsh judgements? Must be exhausting to be so perfect...

[Fenrir Lokison]

07:38 AM on 05/23/2012

I do feel sorry for the children, I all ways feel sorry for the family and friends of those who have criminals, suicide victims, or other people who choose to live the wrong way of life.

There was no judgement of the woman. Just no sense of sympathy. Totally two different paths. And you know why I don't feel sympathy.

Just like I tell people. If you don't want to get bite by their pet dog, don't do things to agitate. Just like I tell drinkers, I you don't want the negative effects of drinking, don't drink yourself stupid. Just like I tell couples, if they want a strong relationship, they will have to work at it together as one. The same is with pregnancy, if you don't want the consequences that comes with having a baby, don't have sex or get yourself fixed.

This woman died while trying to murder an innocent. I don't feel sympathy for murderers.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:14 PM on 05/29/2012

She is the one who killed herself.

[Kahlan Amnell777]

09:13 AM on 05/23/2012

When the only thing people have to say is "baby killer" , they lose all credibility.

Get off your high horse and think for yourself for once.

[Fenrir Lokison]

10:04 AM on 05/23/2012

And you think you think for yourself?

Prove that you do.

Prove that I don't.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:15 PM on 05/29/2012

I don't think she is a baby killer, I do think she killed a lot of hopes for her living children.

[Velocity88]

10:36 PM on 05/22/2012

Horribly sad, which is why we need MORE accessible access to abortion services. Just because it's legal doesn't mean that people can obtain these services, women have to jump through hoops still.

[synergie]

02:43 AM on 05/24/2012

I don't think that was the case in this instance, but you are correct.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:16 PM on 05/29/2012

That is a really naive comment. Sure, perhaps its true for a woman who was in a country where it is illegal or where abortion access is hard to obtain, but she was in a country where abortion is legal, safe and free. I wonder if this was more of a suicide.

[synergie]

10:05 PM on 05/22/2012

I'm sure we'll be hearing about more cases like this out of the backward states.

[cheradora]

08:55 PM on 05/22/2012

what is that kinda vinegar used for?

[synergie]

10:03 PM on 05/22/2012

It has a lot of industrial applications, and it's just an undiluted form of what you pick up in the grocery store.

[cheradora]

10:41 PM on 05/22/2012

thank you..I was worried i had just ate alot of spear dill pickles at a bbq thought maybe i ODed..giggling

[daringsugar]

07:03 PM on 05/22/2012

Good lord, isn't abortion legal there? This is what can happen in this country if Mitt gets his way.

[Katarzyna Kamienski]

11:24 PM on 05/29/2012

Please don't politicize this issue. Clearly this is an example that unsafe abortions DO occur where abortion is safe, legal and free. I think its safe to assume that there will always be women dying from abortions same as there will always be women who die from giving birth or high risk pregnancies. I am pro-choice, so please don't misread my comment.