1930: Fatal peritonitis from abortion

On July 6, 1930, Mary Tulis, age 34, died in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. She died at the scene of the crime. Marie La Montagne, who lived at the scene, was fingered in the abortion. Dr. O.W. Sommer of Francis Willard Hospital had been brought to the scene by somebody when it became apparent that Mary had peritonitis. Neither Montagne nor Sommer is mentioned in the coroner's verdict.

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 1930s.



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

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