Three pre-Roe abortion deaths on January 22

On January 22, 1900, Mrs. Barbara Shelgren, age 25, died at Augustana Hospital in Chicago of an abortion performed there that day. Paulina Bechtel, identified as a midwife, was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury and indicted of homicide by a grand jury, but the case was thrown out by Judge Holdom. Bechtel had been implicated in the abortion death of Ida Henry in 1899, but was identified as a physician in that case. According to Leslie Reagan in When Abortion Was a Crime, female physicians were often misidentified as midwives by the press when they were arrested for abortion charges, so I think it likely Bechtel was actually a physician.

On January 22, 1925, 17-year-old Jean Cohen died at Chicago's Montrose Hospital from an abortion performed earlier that day. On January 31, Louise Hagenow was arrested in Jean's death. Howover, Hagenow, though a known abortionist, was cleared in Jean's death. There were a number of deaths in Chicago attributed to either a Lucy Hagenow or a Louise Hagenow. I believe these to be the same woman. The deaths include Lottie Lowy, Bridget Masterson, Nina H. Pierce, Mary Moorehead, Elizabeth Welter, and Marie Hicht.

The last pre-Roe abortion death I have on this date in my files is actually a safe and legal abortion death. On January 22, 1972, 26-year-old Kathryn Strong died from hemorrhage and shock due to a uterine perforation she'd suffered during an abortion performed the day before at Civic Center Hospital in Oakland California. The abortion was performed by Dr. Harold Van Maren. Kathryn left a three-year-old son motherless.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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