Woman in Coma Has Abortion; Legal Fight Ends

A comatose woman on Saturday underwent an abortion ordered by her husband in hopes of saving her life, ending a two-week legal fight with anti-abortionists that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nancy Klein, 32, who was 18 weeks pregnant, remained comatose and was in guarded condition after the abortion but her vital signs were stable, a North Shore University Hospital official said.

“It’s been a major battle. I am tired and wounded. I want to go on with my life,” Martin Klein said shortly after his wife’s abortion.

Hurdle to Overcome

“We have one other hurdle to overcome and that is Nancy’s recovery,” he added. “I will live with this decision, but the decision had to be mine.”

Nancy Klein has been in a coma at the hospital since a Dec. 13 car accident. Martin Klein said doctors told him that terminating his wife’s pregnancy could give her a better chance of recovering. He then asked a judge on Jan. 26 to declare him her legal guardian so he could authorize the abortion.

The ruling granting his request was challenged by anti-abortion activists until U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall rejected their stay request Friday.