Two deaths, half a century apart

On December 2, 1901, the body of Rose Lefebre was found in the Chicago office of Dr. Volbending. It appeared that Rose had died from an abortion. Dr. Volbending was arrested, but she was later exonerated by a Coroner's Jury. Records don't make it clear if this is because they didn't believe Volbending performed the abortion, because they didn't believe that the abortion caused Rose's death, or because they believed that Volbending had been performing a medically-indicated abortion.

On December 2, 1948, Doris Becker died at the apartment of her friend, Anne Martin. Three days later, Dr. Cyril B. Babb pleaded guilty to performing a fatal abortion on Doris the previous Wednesday in his office. Anne and a bartender, George Kutrones, were held as material witnesses. Babb also admitted to performing 30 other abortions.

These abortions were typical of pre-legalization abortions in that they involved physicians.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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