Sunday, March 29, 2009

1924: Fatal Chicago abortion

On March 29, 1924, 30-year-old Etta Marcus died at Chicago's Francis Willard Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. The coroner concluded that Dr. William J. Wick had performed the fatal abortion at his office. However, on April 10, Wick was acquitted.

Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was attributed to a physician.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.



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

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1 comment:

The Blogger Formerly Known As Lvka said...

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them -- Eph. 5:11

I was just reading this passage from my Bible a few minutes before accessing Your blog, and this is the very first time I'm here, so... weird coincidence, huh? :-\

[No, I'm not making this stuff up: I'm Orthodox, and Ephesians 5:8-19 is the Apostle-reading asigned for today (the fourth Sunday in Lent), and it's the same every year].