1926: Fatal effort by Chicago midwife

On March 27, 1926, 24-year-old Louise Maday died at Chicago's West End Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day.
Midwife Amelia Becker was held by the coroner on April 27.

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
Source:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive