Early 20th Century Chicago: Two Typical Abortion Deaths

On March 31, 1926, 24-year-old Louise Maday died at Chicago's West End Hospital from complications of an abortion performed at an earlier date. Midwife Amelia Becker was held by the coroner on April 27.

On March 31, 1914, 24-year-old Frances Fergus died at Chicago's German Evangelical Deaconess Hospital from peritonitis caused by an abortion. Dr. James R. Struble was implicated but released after the coroner's jury inquest. Two years later Struble was implicated in the abortion death of Augusta Bloom. 

 These deaths are typical of abortion deaths in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the bulk were committed in about equal amounts by doctors and midwives.

Chicago, 1912 and 1924

On March 29, 1924, 30-year-old Etta Marcus died at Chicago's Francis Willard Hospital (pictured) 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. The source document does not identify the reason Wick was named as the abortionist, nor why he was acquitted.

On March 29, 1912, 36-year-old Mary Abrams died from an abortion perpetrated by Mary D. Lunnemeyer that day. Lunnemeyer's profession is identified only as "abortion provider", so it's likely that she was a lay abortionist. She was arrested March 29 and held to a Grand Jury, but the case never went to trial.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America

Safe and Legal in 1986 Leaves Woman Dead

Very little is available concerning the abortion death of 29-year-old Gail Wright. She was 20 weeks pregnant. After the abortion, she developed a severe infection that began to attack her lungs.  She died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on March 26, 1986, leaving behind a husband.

Typical and Atypical, and Why One Must Be Ignored

On March 27, 1940, 20-year-old homemaker Mary Ann Page of Alton, Illinois, died from a botched criminal abortion. The coroner's jury identified the perpetrator as 69-year-old Dr. C.E. Trovillion, also of Alton, former managing officer of Illinois state hospitals.

Mary Ann's abortion, perpetrated by a physician, was typical of criminal abortions. Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that 90% of all abortions were being done by physicians, 8% were self-induced and 2% were induced by someone else. Lee estimated that 89% of illegal abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% by non-medical persons or the woman herself.

However, "A woman went to a doctor for an abortion, then died from complications" isn't going to rally the troops. Something more dramatic is called for. And in the days before penicillin and blood transfusions, there were enough deaths that sooner or later some woman's tragedy would produce a useful and comely corpse for public display.

Whoever Clara Jane Bell Duvall was in life -- elegant society matron or desperate slum mother -- in death she has become a sort of patron saint of the abortion lobby. Clara was a 32-year-old married mother of five, aged 6 months to 12 years. According to the National Organization for Women web site, she and her family were living with her parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to financial problems. NOW says that Clara attempted a self-induced abortion with a knitting needle. Though she was seriously ill and in severe pain, NOW says, Clara's doctor delayed hospitalizing her for several weeks. Her death, at a Pittsburgh's Mercy Hospital on March 27, 1929, was attributed to pneumonia. There are discrepancies between NOW's story and the story Clara's daughter (using the name "Marilyn") relayed to prochoice writer Patricia Miller. Furthermore, the entire knitting-needle abortion story is third-hand, something the dying Clara reportedly confessed to her 10-year-old daughter who later in life relayed it to a sister who relayed it to Miller. We have no real evidence -- and no matter what the truth is, Clara was beautiful and young, her death was a devastating tragedy, and the narrative is politically useful. The story will stand.

The tale of Clara Duvall's abortion death, one that nobody can do anything to verify, is a useful one to the abortion lobby, and thus it's her death, and not the far more common deaths of women like Mary Ann Page, that will be put forth to the public as typical criminal abortion deaths. It's narrative, not facts, that matters.

Safe and Legal in 1986

Gail Wright was 29 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. She was 20 weeks pregnant.
After her abortion, she developed sepsis. She died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on March 26, 1986, leaving behind a husband.

I haven't enough information about Gail's care to make a judgment about whether her death was just a sad complication or due to malpractice.

From the 19th to the 21st Centuries, Quackery Remains Lethal

On March 25, 2000, 22-year-old Maria Rodriguez went to Steve Lichtenberg's Albany Medical Surgical Center for a late second trimester abortion. At about 9:00 a.m., Maria was showing signs of shock from hemorrhage. Lichtenberg had failed to notice that he had ruptured Maria's uterus. Rather than transport her to a properly equipped hospital, Lichtenberg tried to treat his patient's deteriorating condition in his clinic, without determining the cause of the problem.  It wasn't until an hour and a half after Maria suffered her life-threatening injury that it occurred to somebody to call 911 and have Maria taken to a properly equipped hospital. By then, Maria had lost so much blood that there was nothing that doctors could do to save her. N.B. At a National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar in the 1990s, Michael Burnhill of the Alan Guttmacher Institute scolded Lichtenberg for "playing Russian roulette" with patients' lives by performing risky abortions in an outpatient setting and treating serious complications on site in his procedure room rather than transporting them to a hospital. Evidently Lichtenberg chose not to listen to Burnhill's warning. Other women to die from abortions at FPA facilities include Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia,  Lanice Dorsey,  Joyce Ortenzio,  Tami Suematsu,  Deanna Bell,  Susan Levy,  Christina Mora,  Ta Tanisha Wesson,  Nakia Jorden,  Maria Leho,  Kimberly Neil, and Chanelle Bryant. Clearly, trusting to abortion practitioners and their organizations, such as the National Abortion Federation, will not keep women safe from quackery.

*****

Hardcore supporters of legalized abortion sing the praises of Dr. William Jennings Bryan Henrie. He earned their praise, of course, for his willingness to perpetrate abortions, evidently out of the goodness of his heart. But they're forgetting someone. There's one name you won't find in these hagiographic articles: Jolene Griffith. On March 3, 1962, kindly Dr. Henrie performed an abortion on Jolene at his clinic in Grove, Oklahoma. Jolene developed an infection, and, according to her survivors, Griffith abandoned her and provided no care to treat the infection. On March 10, Jolene was admitted to a hospital in Tulsa. She died there on March 25, leaving behind a husband and three minor children. Henire was convinced, and served 25 months of a 4-year sentence. Upon his release, he went right back to doing abortions, much to the applause of people to whom Jolene's life isn't even worth a paragraph beyond mentioning the trouble it caused Henrie. So much for the focus on women's lives.

*****

On March 25, 1916, Angela Raia of Paynter Avenue, Astoria, died, evidently from the results of an abortion. Her husband Ignazio sued two doctors, Harlan E. Linehan and Dennis McAuliffe, for $400, asserting that their negligence had caused Angela's death.

*****

In the spring of 1933, Edward Dettman's 21-year-old girlfriend, Mary Colbert, told him that she'd missed her period and asked him, "What can be done?" Later, during the inquest over her death, he said that he'd responded, "I don't know, that was up to her." He had, he said, offered to marry her, but she'd refused, saying she didn't want to marry "in disgrace." Her aunt, on the other hand, said that Mary told her that she didn't want to marry anybody at all at that point in her life.Once Mary elected to seek an abortion, Edward took her to Dr. Emil Gleitsman. Afterward, Mary took ill and confided in her aunts. One recalled having asked her, "Mamie, why did you not tell me, and I would get a good doctor." Mary died on March 25. Gleitsman was also implicated in the 1928 abortion death of 22-year-old Lucille van Iderstine and in the fatal abortion on Jeanette Reder in 1930.

*****

The Weekly Age Herald of Birmingham, Alabama, tells the sad tale of the 1889 death of the young Delia Mae Bell:

"At 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon a hearse and a carriage drove up to the main stairway of the Jackson block.... A few men and boys gathered to see what it was there for. Some of the rented rooms on the third floor brought down a casket and placed it in the hearse, and some weeping women got into one of the carriages. Then the simple procession moved slowly toward Oak Hill. There was something peculiarly pathetic about it all. Yet those who gave it a hasty glance did not appreciate the painful story that lay behind it all -- did not know how in that unostentatious casket lay the frail figure of a mere child, whose wrecked life was brought to a close in the throes of maternity, and in all probability the victim of the most heinous of murders.


When Delia had violently ill on a Sunday morning, the neighbors were suspicious. Three different doctors were called in to attend to her. "All the aids known to medical science were tried without avail, and about 3 o'clock in the afternoon it was decided to resort to an operation." Morris believed, based on his observations during his time there, that Delia's mother knew that she was pregnant, but her grandmother didn't. "There were hurrying feet in the hallways, and then came a hush over the place. The girl was dead." This was Monday, March 25. The doctors notified the coroner and turned over a bottle to him that had contained an abortifacient traced to a saloon keeper named George A. Foule of East Birmingham.

*****

 
In January of 1848, 20-year-old Ann Gallager of Boston approached a married friend, Catherine Beath, with the news that she was pregnant. Ann asked Catherine to go with her to Dr. John Stevens to arrange an abortion. "The doctor refused, saying that he was an old man and did not do such things." Ann offered him $50, Catherine said, but Stevens insisted that "he would not do it for all the world." Ann was angry, and went home to try to abort the baby herself. She tried pouring boiling water over tobacco leaves and breathing the steam. She tried drinking some rum in which she had soaked rusty nails. Finally, she tried a knitting needle, which Catherine took away from her. Eventually, as these attempts were not working, she went to another doctor, asking for some abortifacient pills, who told her that she was going to kill herself with her attempts to abort. As March wore on, Ann took ill. She gave a sworn statement that on March 15, Stevens had done the abortion on her with instruments, though whether she was telling the truth or was just getting revenge on the doctor for refusing to do an abortion will never be known. Two days later she expelled the dead baby, a boy. Ann's condition continued to deteriorate until her death on March 25. It's a shame that neither of the doctors that Ann consulted with were able to dissuade her from killing her baby, and in the end taking her own life as well.

Three Criminal Deaths, and Lessons for Prevention

On March 21, 1947, Ilene Eagen, age 24, was brought to Mankato, Minnesota, to the dental office of W. A. Groebner for an abortion. Court records indicate that Ilene was pressured into the abortion by her paramour, Raymond Older, who refused to marry her and threatened her with bodily harm if she refused an abortion. After the abortion, Ilene became violently ill and lost consciousness. Older took Ilene to his service station in Granada, Minnesota and kept her there, allowing Ilene to languish without medical care. She died March 24, leaving a seven-year-old daughter motherless. Older tried to escape civil liability on the grounds that despite his refusal to marry her, and the threats, Ilene had consented to the abortion and that therefore she was responsible for her own sickness and subsequent death. Since there will always be sleezebag men -- both abusers willing to force abortions and quacks willing to perpetrate them -- we must create better outreach for battered women, along with superior methods for helping them to stay safe as they escape abuse. Making abortion more accessible will only serve to help the abusers.

On March 24, 1915, 31-year-old Frances Kulczyk died at her Chicago home from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator. Frances, who kept house and worked as a scrub woman, was the widow of Walter Kulzyk,who had worked as a molder in a foundry. With Frances' death, the three children, all under the age of 10, were left orphans. To prevent such tragedies, communities should make sure that the work of their pregnancy centers are better known -- and prochoice organizations should stop demonizing them and scaring women away from those who would provide ongoing help and support. Women would not feel the desperation and despair that drives them to abortion if they were assured that they would not face their challenges alone.

On March 24, 1905, 28-year-old Ida Alice Bloom, a Swedish immigrant working as a domestic servant, died suddenly in Chicago from septic peritonitis caused by an apparent criminal abortion perpetrated on or about March 15. Dr. Julius N. Goltz as arrested as a principal, and James McDonald as an accessory. Both men were held without bail by a coroner's jury. Alice's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician. Since there will always be quacks willing to perpetrate abortions, and family and friends willing to participate in arranging them, we need to make sure laws are written in such a way that those who help women to seek prompt medical care afterward will not be discouraged from doing so for fear of prosecution.

During the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. Preventing abortion deaths needs to be a multidisciplinary effort --

• Continued improvement in, and access to, medical care
• Improved access to resources that help women to avoid abortions
• Increased community awareness of the preventability of abortion

From 1905 to 1979, Abortion Kills Each Woman Equally Dead

Lynn McNair, age 24, was 23 weeks pregnant when she was injected with saline by Dr. Edward Rubin at Jewish Memorial Hospital.The first injection of saline failed to kill the fetus, so Lynn was given a second injection. After this second dose, Lynn went into contractions and slipped into a coma. She died March 23, 1979 of a pulmonary embolism of amniotic fluid.She left two children motherless.

On March 23, 1917, 19-year-old Mary Conners died at Chicago's County Hospital, refusing to name the abortionist who had fatally injured her that day.

On March 23, 1907, Mrs. Dora Swan, age 24, died at Englewood Union Hospital in Chicago from infection caused by a criminal abortion. Louise Achtenberg, whose profession is not given, was held responsible by the coroner, but there is no record that charges were filed. Achtenberg, a doctor identified as a midwife due to her obstetric work, had been implicated in the 1909 abortion deaths of Stella Kelly and Florence Wright. She was also implicated in the 1921 abortion death of Violet McCormick. Later, in 1924, it was Dr. Louise Achtenberg who was held responsible for the death of Madelyn Anderson.

On March 23, 1905, Mrs. Ida Pomering, a 30-year-old German immigrant, died in Chicago from an abortion performed earlier that day. Dr. Apollonia Heinle was held by the coroner's jury for Ida's death.
Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.



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

1983: Doctor-Recommended Abortion Kills Teen

Barbara Hoppert was a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore when she checked into Loma Linda University Hospital for an abortion.

Barbara was in the second trimester of her pregnancy. She was having the abortion on the recommendation of her physician, because of a congenital heart condition.

The abortion was performed on February 22, 1983.

During the procedure, Barbara's heart stopped. Physicians were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead on the operating table.

The following comment was posted on the RealChoice blog:

• It's been almost 24 years since I was at the Loma Linda Hospital and was roomed with Barbara Hoppert, but not year goes by when Feb 22nd rolls around and I don't think of her. She died that day during her abortion procedure. I just now put her name into google and found your article on her. It was barely 4 sentences and seemed as cold as her death. She was once alive and had such a sad end and dramatic story. It still brings me to tears today thinking about her last night alive... how she was treated by her own family and the staff at the hospital. We watched Square Pegs that night on tv. And she told me about the boy who had impregnated her... She left early the next morning and I wished her good luck... An hour later a woman came to the room, later I found out that was her "real" mother whom Barbara thought was her sister. She missed seeing Barbara that one last time.... Barbara's story is very tragic. I am so very sad that she was so alone her last night alive. I was her only comfort and I was a complete stranger. Don't know how comforting I was other than I cried with her and listened.... Knowing the pain she was in.... She remains in my prayers. Just thought you should know she was more than just part of your cause.

Thanks to the woman who came forward to share this memory of Barbara.

Barbara's was not the only tragic death caused by doctors who recommended (or excused) abortion as a life-saving or health-preserving option for the mother:

• Allegra Roseberry was pushed into an abortion in order to obtain experimental cancer treatment.
• Anjelica Duarte sought an abortion on the advice of her physician, and ended up dying under the care of a quack.
• Christin Gilbert died after an abortion George Tiller holds was justified on grounds of maternal health.
• Erika Peterson died in 1961 when her doctors obtained her husband's permission to perform a "therapeutic" abortion.
• "Molly" Roe died in 1975 when her doctors made the dubious decision to perform a saline abortion to improve her chances of surviving a lupus crisis.

The whole idea of abortion for the life of the mother is based on misconceptions, both about caring for pregnant women and about what constitutes an abortion. Watch this video to learn more.

A Doctor, a Husband, and a Lover

On March 20, 1926, 19-year-old Alice Annalora died at the County Hospital in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. Dr. Wilford Vine was booked for Alice's death, as was her husband, Joseph Annalora. Vine was indicted for felony murder. Ultimately, the coroner was unable to determine the legal status of the abortion that killed Alice, so Dr. Vine and Mr. Annalora were released.

The March 20, 1907 death of Anna Gosch was similar to the death of "Daisy" Roe, a systems analyst who died in 1990 after allowing her boyfriend to attempt to perform an abortion on her with a piece of aquarium tubing. Anna allowed her lover, a man only identified by the surname Edwards, to insert a rubber catheter tube into her uterus to cause an abortion. Anna developed an infection, and although a doctor provided her with care, attending to her twice daily, she developed an infection and died. Her lover was convicted of homicide.

More Criminal Deaths -- Mostly the Work of Doctors

Geraldine Easley, age 19, admitted before her death on March 19, 1932, that she had undergone a criminal abortion. Since Dr. James W. Eisiminger and Dr. Richard E. Thacker had been responsible for a string of other criminal abortion deaths in the Oklahoma City area, suspicion in Geraldine's death naturally leaned toward the two known quack abortionists.

On March 19, 1916, 30-year-old Carolina Petritz died at the Chicago office of midwife Paulina Erlomus, who had perpetrated the fatal abortion there that day. Erlomus was held by the Coroner but the case never went to trial.

On March 19, 1907, Mrs. Bessie Simmons, age 30, died at her Chicago home from infection caused by a criminal abortion perpetrated on February 22 at the office of Dr. Charles D. Hughes, who was arrested in the death. Bessie's abortion was typical in that it was performed by a physician.

During the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.



Mary Noble, age 38, died at her home in New York's 28th Precinct on March 19, 1867. The coroner's jury concluded that Mary had died from pyemia, "resulting from an abortion produced by the prisoner, Wm. F.J. Thiers, alias Dr. Dubois. They further hold Amelia Armstrong, alias Madame Dubois, as accessory before the fact."

Early 20th Century -- Chicago Abortion Deaths

On March 18, 1914, 28-year-old derssmaker Irene Ridgeway died at Garfield Park Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.

On March 18, 1913, 25-year-old homemaker Mary Brubaker died in her Chicago home on Inglewood Avenue from septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by Dr. H.W. Case. Case was held by the Coroner and indicted by a Grand Jury April 15, but the case never went to trial.

 Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.

Legal, Illegal, Equally Deadly

Cycloria Vangates, age 32, underwent an abortion on March 13, 1976, performed by Dr. Paul Glassman. She suffered a cervical laceration. The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine found that Glassman failed to adequately treat Cycloria's injury. She died on March 17.

On March 17, 1907, Paulina Schneider died at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, Illinois, from complications of a criminal abortion. Paulina gave a deathbed statement implicating Dr. Robert Emery in her abortion. Paulina's mother had also fingered Emery. For reasons not given in the source document, Emery -- identified as "Old Doctor Robert Emery" -- was found not guilty.

Abortions Deadly, Over More than a Century

Norma Greene, a 34-year-old divorcee, went into cardio-respiratory arrest in a Winston-Salem hospital on March 16, 1981. Her death certificate indicates that the arrest was caused by a pulmonary embolism (tissue or air in the lungs) following a recent abortion.

Reports on death of Evelyn Dudley, age 38, indicate that she was treated at Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on March 16, 1973. Later, at home, she collapsed in the driveway. She was taken to a hospital, where attempts to save her failed. Her death was due to shock, hemorrhage from a ruptured cervix and vagina, from "remote abortion." T.R. Mason Howard (pictured) stated that Evelyn was treated at Friendship for infection sustained in an abortion in Detroit. But Evelyn's brother stated that she had come to Chicago specifically to have the abortion. Julia Rogers and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.



On March 16, 1924, 35-year-old Selma Hedlund died in Chicago's Jefferson Park Hospital (pictured) from complications of an abortion performed that day. The sources says that she died at the crime scene. Nobody was ever positively identified as the abortionist. However, a Carl Carlson, indicated as a person known to Selma, was arrested as an accomplice.

On March 16, 1915, 19-year-old saleslady Hazel Wilcox died at a Chicago home from sepsis caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by midwife Julia Patera. Patera was held by the coroner on March 20 but the case never went to trial, despite the fact that Elinora Cassidy had died only the previous day after identifying Patera as her abortionist.

On that same day, 26-year-old homemaker Hazel Carr died in her Chicago home from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.



Harriet "Hattie" Reece, a 25-year-old primary school teacher in Browning, Illinois, died March 16, 1899. The finger pointed at Dr. James W. Aiken. Hattie had consulted with a doctor two months prior to her death. She did have some health problems, but this doctor recommended continuing the pregnancy rather than taking the risk of an abortion. Hattie, however, was concerned about the effect being pregnant would have on her teaching career. She made inquiries and ended up corresponding with Aiken, who assured her that he could get her safely through an abortion. Hattie's husband, Frank, was against the idea of an abortion but said he'd agree to one if it was necessary for Hattie's well-being, but he had no faith in Dr. Aiken and refused to participate in any way. Hattie used her salary to travel to Tennessee to have her abortion. She took ill and sent for Frank, who found her in ill health, with Aiken saying that Hattie needed an abortion for her safety. Frank went back to Hattie's room, begged her forgiveness for having been harsh with her, and returned home.He got a telegram from his wife saying that she was worse and to come at once. When Frank arrived, Aiken told him that Hattie was dying and that he'd sent for her father. Aiken told Frank that "he had told the people Mrs. Reece had died of peritonitis. That was the story he had been telling and we must both stick to it as I was in it as deep as he." Frank told Aiken that he'd tell the truth, and went to speak with his wife. She told Frank that the abotion had been performed on Saturday (most likely March 4) with blunt instruments, and that she had expelled the dead baby on Wednesday (most likely March 8). Aiken had put the baby in his pocket and left with it. She recanted her story shortly before her death. Aiken seemed to be a bit of a George Tiller precursor -- somebody who would find a "life of the mother" case in any pregnancy. But unlike Tiller, Aiken couldn't just buy his way out of trouble. He was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years.

On March 16, 1869, Magdalena Philippi died of complications of an abortion performed on March 11, evidently by a Dr. Gabriel Wolff, who continued to attend to her as she sickened and died. Although Magdalena was four or five months pregnant, prosecutors had no way of proving that she had felt movement in the fetus, so they could not prosecute Dr. Wolff. The next day, a bill was introduced in Albany to eliminate the quickening distinction in prosecuting abortion cases. This would make it easier to prosecute abortionists like Wolff.   Magdalena's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

A Chicago Midwife and an Unknown Perp

On March 15, 1915, 22-year-old homemaker Elenora Cassidy died at Cook County Hospital after being treated for two days for septicemia. Before her death, Elinor named Julia Patara as the guilty abortionist, and indicated that the abortion had been done at Patara's house on March 6. Patara was indicted for Elinor's death on March 15 by a Grand Jury, but the case never went to trial.

On March 15, 1917, 24-year-old waitress Celia Steele died at Chicago's Jefferson Park Hospital from septicemia and purulent peritonitis caused by a criminal abortion. The coroner was unable to identify the guilty party.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these issues, during the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.

The Infamouse Dr. Hagenow, Chicago, and Hauled Out to the Car

Abortionist Lucy "Louise" Hagenow

March 16, 1905, 27-year-old seamstress Mary Putnam died at Chicago's Monroe Street Hospital from infection caused by an abortion. May had been brought to the hospital two days earlier, in critical condition, and the police were notified. Dr. Lucy Hagenow and a man identified as F. E. MacCordy were arrested by the Coroner's Jury on March 16. Hagenow, who had already been implicated of the abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, Annie Dorris, Abbia Richards, and Emma Dep in San Francisco, would go on to be linked to over a dozen Chicago abortion deaths: Minnie Deering, Sophia Kuhn, Emily Anderson, Hannah Carlson, Marie Hecht, Lola Madison, Annie Horvatich, Lottie Lowy, Nina H. Pierce, Jean Cohen, Bridget Masterson, Elizabeth Welter, and Mary Moorehead.Hagenow's incorrigibility and her ability to for the most part avoid prosecution and prison stand as a stark reminder that we can not trust either the authorities nor abortion referral networks to stamp out quackery, regardless of abortion's legal status. Vigilance will always be necessary, as will highly visible opportunities for women to get life-affirming help.

On March 14, 1930, Alberta Beard, age 29, died at the office of Dr. Davis Lucas from an abortion perpetrated there that day. Lucas was arrested on May 24, on recommendation of the coroner. Lucas was indicted for felony murder in Alberta's death on August 7.

How much better are things nowadays, when abortion is safe and legal? Read on.

Glenda Davis, a 31-year-old mother of two, underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Robert Hanson at Aaron Family Planning March 11, 1989. During the abortion, Glenda suffered a 1.5 - 2 inch long wound to her uterine artery and vein complex, causing massive bleeding. After a delay, staffers decided to transfer Glenda to the hospital. Glenda's husband discovered staffers attempting unsuccessfully to transfer Glenda from a wheelchair to a staffer's car. He helped them get Glenda into the car. With the IV still in her arm, Glenda was driven to HCA Memorial Hospital. She had no blood pressure and almost no pulse upon arrival. Glenda fell into a coma, and died three days later.

Early 20th Century Chicago, a Doctor and a Midwife

On March 13, 1917, 33-year-old Minnie Schofield died at a Chicago residence after an abortion performed that day by Dr. Fred L. Orsinger. Both Orsinger and Minnie's husband, Thomas, were held by the coroner. Thomas never went to trial; Orsinger was acquitted on May 8, 1920. Minnie was in immigrant from Ireland.


On March 13, 1909, Mrs. Lena Oppedal, age 37, died at Norwegian Tabitha Hospital in Chicago from peritonitis caused by a ruptured ectopic pregnancy complicated by an attempted abortion. A midwife named Carrin Bakke was held to a grand jury and indicted for murder but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

Criminal Abortion: The Work of Doctors and Midwives

On February 4, 1928, 24-year-old Julia Agoston underwent a criminal abortion in Chicago. The coroner concluded that the abortion had been perpetrated in her home. On March 12, Julia died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. On March 31, Dr. Anton Feher, Dr. Helen Moskowitz, Susie Kosmos, and Julia's husband Manhart Agoston were held by the coroner. The physicians were held as principals. The two laypersons were held as accessories. Moskowitz was indicted for felony murder on November 23.

On March 12, 1909, Cook County native Kate Blust, age 22, a homemaker, died at her home on Courtland Street in Chicago from peritonitis caused by an abortion perpetrated there on February 25. Midwife Emma Novak was held without bail for the crime of murder by abortion. She was indicted for murder but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial.

Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.

Deaths at the Hands of Two Criminal Abortionists, and One Former Criminal Abortionist

Sidney Knight was facing a number of criminal abortion charges in 1973, when Roe v. Wade made them a moot point. He hung out his shingle and began performing abortions legally. In March of 1974, Janet Blaum, age 37, went to Knight's New Orleans facility for a safe and legal abortion. Five days later, on March 11, she was dead of brain hemorrhage. Janet's ex-husband sued Knight on behalf of the couple's children, alleging that Knight had administered a fatal dose of anesthesia while preparing Janet for the abortion.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.



While visiting a friend who had just given birth, 30-year-old Catherine Mau asked another friend, Catherine Beyer, to come with her to the office of Chicago midwife Anna Heisler for an abortion. On February 13, 1929, two Catherines went together, and according to Beyer, Mau told the midwife that "she had three children and her husband was out of work and she could not support another one, and that her husband was sickly." Beyer waited while the midwife took Mau into another room and inserted a catheter. The two women parted ways and each went home to her husband and children. Two days later, Beyer met the midwife at Mau's home and helped her “wash her out” and put her to bed. Beyer then took care of Mau's children. About two weeks later, Mau's husband Frank called a doctor to report that his wife was in great pain. A doctor told Catherine Mau that she was near death. Mau reportedly said, “What will my children do?” A few weeks later, on March 11, Catherine died from infection. On July 20, 1929, Heisler was sentenced to Joliet Penitentiary for Catherine's death. She had already done time in Joliet for the May 30, 1919 abortion death of 43-year-old Lena Benich, but had been freed after winning an appeal.

On March 11, 1915, 40-year-old homemaker Emma Jonas died at Chicago's German American Hospital after an abortion perpetrated by Cecelia Styskal. Though Styskal was arrested and held by the Coroner, the case never went to trial.

Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

Doctors' Fatal Work in 1921 and 1914

On March 1, 1921, Dr. C.W. Milliken performed an abortion on 28-year-old Iva Triplett. Milliken was practicing in Akron, Ohio. Immediately after the abortion, Iva became severely ill. She continued under Milliken's care until she died of septicemia and peritonitis on March 9, leaving a widower and children.  Milliken was also charged with performing a fatal abortion that same month on Florence Cobb.
The year before Iva and Florence died, Milliken had perpetrated an abortion on Francis Karies, who died in Chicago. The coroner had recommended that Milliken be prosecuted, but there is no record that the authorities took any action, even though they'd been told he was dangerous before he took his instruments to Iva Triplet.


On March 9, 1914, 34-year-old homemaker Elizabeth O'Donnell died in the Chicago office of Dr. Alvin C. Hirster, who had performed an abortion on there there that day. Hirster was held without bail by the Coroner, and was indicted on March 15, but the case never went to trial.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. During the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.



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

Modern Quackery, Beneficiaries of New York Legalization, and Pre Roe Deaths

On March 4, 1975, Robert Sherman performed a safe and legal abortion on 16-year-old Rita McDowell, who was in the second trimester of her pregnancy. When Rita was discharged, her mother was told that she would expel the fetus that night. As they left the office, Rita told her mother, "Oh, Mama, I feel like I had one hundred needles in me." Rita did not expel the fetus. Instead, she developed a fever. Her mother called Sherman's facility on March 5 but was told that Sherman would not speak to her, and to bring Rita in two days later. In the early morning hours of March 7, Rita awoke screaming, then collapsed in her mother's arms. Doctors at the hospital where Rita was taken removed the macerated fetus, but she died from massive infection just after midnight on March 8. An investigation revealed evidence that Sherman deliberately performed incomplete abortions so that he could charge more for follow-up care. He was charged with murder in Rita's death, and prosecutors presented evidence that Sherman re-used disposable medical equipment, failed to perform tests to verify pregnancy, failed to do pathology examinations, allowed a nurse's aide to perform surgery, and falsified medical records. Sherman got the charge dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on perjury charges. The prosecutor defended the plea bargain on the grounds that the felony convictions would block Sherman from ever practicing medicine again. However, Sherman served two years in a federal prison, then set up a legal abortion practice in Boston.

In early March of 1972, "Colleen" took advantage of the new law and traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion. She was 21 years old and 20 weeks pregnant. Colleen had a history of asthma. During the abortion, she went into respiratory arrest. She died March 8, the same day 31-year-old "Connie" died from a a safe and legal abortion performed in in New York on March 3. Connie had gone into cardiac arrest during the abortion. She left behind one child.

On the morning of March 8, 1954, the Skains family of Haskell, Texas, got a phone call from police in Chicago. Their 24-year-old daughter, Ozella Ann Skains, had been found dead along a street in suburban Oak Park. Police surmised that she had either jumped from, or been thrown from, a moving vehicle. The chiropractor, John Goetschel, to whom she was engaged was being held for questioning, along with a friend of his. Both Goetschel and the friend told the police that they knew Ozella was pregnant. Goetschel said he'd prescribed 12 five-grain quinine tablets, telling Ozella to take two at a time, then follow up with a hot bath. He also used chiropractic treatments on Monday night (the day before her body was discovered) to attempt to cause an abortion. A woman that the police questioned said that Ozella had stayed with her all day Monday and had been often stricken with nausea. She'd left about 11 p.m. In the company of the two men, who insisted that she'd been very much alive when they had dropped her off near her hotel that night. The autopsy revealed that Ozella had died of an air embolism without ever having lost the baby. Goetschel was prosecuted, but acquitted by a jury of eight women and four men, a verdict his attorney attributed to lack of clear evidence that Goetschel had caused Ozella's death. Ozella's family sued Goetschel and Malek for $20,000 in damages.

Twenty-two-year-old Mary Bellville died Friday, March 8, 1889, from complications of an attempted abortion. "Her death aroused increased excitement in Astoria." A week before her death, Miss Bellville made a deathbed statement that Arthur B. Roosa had helped her to abort another pregnancy the previous June, "furnishing the instrument and instructing her in its use". Roosa, Miss Bellville said, was the father of both aborted children. He had not helped her with the second, fatal abortion. News coverage attempted to quell rumors that any local physicians, or any party other than Miss Bellville herself, "had any part in this criminal act."

In Any Century, Abortion Kills Women

Gloria Small, a 43-year-old mother of six, went to Ronald Tauber (who was later arrested for sex crimes against children) for a safe ane legal abortion. Despite Gloria's obesity, asthma, chronic lung disease, and family history of high blood pressure, Tauber elected to perform the 15-week abortion at his Orlando Birthing Center on March 7, 1978. Gloria's uterus was punctured during the abortion. She died despite an emergency hysterectomy. The medical examiner said that Gloria's medical history should have precluded performing an abortion in an outpatient setting. A court-appointed panel found Tauber negligent in Gloria's death. Because Tauber's license was suspended the month Gloria died; this means that if the Centers for Disease Control counted Gloria's death at all, they would have tabulated it as a death from an illegal abortion, since they count abortions as legal only if they are performed by a physician with an active license.

Ephraim Northcott, relative of the more infamous Gordon Northcott, perpetrator of the "Wineville Chicken Coop Murders," was the abortionist convicted in the March 7, 1919 abortion death of Red Cross nurse Inez Reed (pictured), whose body had been discovered dumped in a ravine. Northcott, at the age of 49, had opened a maternity home, intended to provide a cover for a business perpetrating abortions on more advanced pregnancies. This made him a promising person to approach -- though Inex didn't need to seek him out herself. Another doctor that she had approached about an abortion had referred her. Northcott was arrested on June 26, and found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to San Quentin.

The March 7, 1913 death of Edna Frederickson was tangled up in a tale of murder and intrigue. Edna was employed at a Chicago candy shop for $2 per week, and turned her wages over to her mother. Wanting to have some money for herself, and unhappy at home, Edna turned to a co-worker at the candy company, a married woman who went by the names of Lillie Dearborn and Kitty Young. Dearborn took Edna to the Dreamland Dance Hall, "and Edna soon began to earn more money." Evidently through a connection she made at Dreamland, Edna became pregnant. George Ringler Jr., who was responsible for Edna's pregnancy, was first sought aboard a steamer where he worked as a machinist, but for some unexplained reason he was not aboard when the ship sailed. A German newspaper clipping about Edna's death was found in the pocket of George Dietz, a murder victim. Also in Dietz's pocket was the business card of Dr. Eva Conheim. Eventually, Dietz's widow, Augusta, was implicated in his murder, and beyond the clipping and business card, no connection was ever made between Dietz and Edna.

On March 7, 1908, unmarried seamstress Nellie Shuff, age 26, of New Berlin, Illinois, died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago. The coroner's jury determined that she died from complications of an abortion that had been perpetrated at a home on Forest Avenue. Johanna White, whose profession was not given, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to Joliet for the death.

On April 15, 1880, medical student Vincent Height perpetrated an abortion on 20-year-old Mary Maber, who was a servant in the Peekskill, New York boarding house where Height lived. Height was believed to have been the father of Mary's baby. The abortion was committed in New York City, but did not have the desired effect, so Height set Mary up in room rented at the home of Mrs. Gaillard in Peekskill on April 20. Height visited with Mary on the 21st, and then returned on the 22nd and spent about 15 minutes alone with her. The next day, Mary took ill the next day, and continued to worsen over the weekend, taking to her bed on Monday, the 26th. Height visited Mary daily, bringing a minister to Mary's room on Thursday to marry the couple at Mary's bed, where she remained ailing, attended by Height, who had called in Dr. Snowden and Dr. Mason to consult regarding Mary's care. Mary languished for nearly a year, finally dying on March 7, 1881.

Antoinette Fennor died of peritonitis March 7, 1875, from an abortion perpetrated about February 26 by Mrs. Catherine Maxwell. Jennie Gale and John Betts were accessories. All three were arrested. Betts's sister-in-law testified that she had seen Antoinette at the hotel, but only twice had seen Betts even speak to her. She was seen, Mrs. Betts said, "in company with another gentleman." She denied any knowledge that her brother-in-law and Antoinette had "an intimacy." 

"Don't Put Yourself in the Hands of Quacks," and More Quackery Pre and Post Legalization

"Don't go out and put yourself in the hands of quacks, dear. There are plenty of places that don't care about women like we do."Betty EasonOwner, Dadeland  Family Planning Center 
Chatoor Bisal Singh did an abortion on 38-year-old Ellen Williams at Miami's notorious Dadeland abortion clinic on March 2, 1985. On March 4, Ellen returned, doubled over and rocking back and forth in pain. Dadeland owner Betty Eason gave her some tea, then called Singh, who arrived four hours later. Singh examined Ellen, then turned her over to Nabil Ghali, a known quack and sex offender, who performed a second D&C and sent Ellen home with a bottle of antibiotics. On March 5, Ellen was rushed by ambulance to Coral Reef Hospital, where she was rushed into surgery. She died in the intensive care unit on March 6. The autopsy revealed that she had uterine and bowel perforations, causing the peritonitis that killed her. Singh told the Miami Herald that he didn't usually work at Dadeland, but was "strapped for cash" and agreed to fill in for Robert Kast while he was away. Singh described himself as "not an abortionist, just an honest, easygoing guy looking for something temporary. After Ellen's death, Singh quit working at Dadeland, saying, "It was a bad month." It certainly was: the same day he'd performed the first abortion on Ellen Williams, Singh also did an abortion on a woman who afterward hemorrhaged and passed a portion of her fetus. When she returned with it to the clinic, staff told her it was "a blood clot," but a hospital later verified that it was a 16-week fetal head.

A 16-year-old girl underwent a safe and legal second-trimester saline abortion on August 26, 1969. A journal article on her death identifies her as "F.S." I'll call her "Felicia." Felicia developed an infection and symptoms of meningitis after her abortion. She continued to be treated for ten days before she was transferred to another hospital in San Francisco for further treatment. Doctors performed two heart valve replacements on Felicia, and had scheduled her for yet another before she died on March 6, 1970. The cause of death was severe congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

Beatrice Fern Fisher, age 36, lived about 17 miles from Seattle. In March of 1945, Beatrice informed her husband that she was pregnant, and that she intended to return to Seattle for an abortion to be performed by the woman who'd done a previous abortion for Beatrice. Her husband wasn't happy with the plan, but left the matter to his wife. On March 5, Beatrice took her four-year-old daughter, mother-in-law, and $100 in cash and drove to Seattle to seek her former physician. When they arrived at "Dr. T's" office, Dr. T was not available, but his nurse gave Beatrice the name of Dr. Frank C. Hart, along with the address of his office. Beatrice and her companions went to Hart's office, where she remained while her mother-in-law took the little girl shopping. Beatrice took sick on the way home, so they went to her in-laws' home so she could rest before going home. The following morning, Beatrice told her husband that she was returning to Dr. Hart to have "blood clots" removed. She took her daughter and mother-in-law with her again. Beatrice's mother-in-law told Hart that she was very concerned about Beatrice. Fisher told her, "This is no place for relations and children. Meet her downstairs in the lobby." Upon returning about 20 minutes later, the mother-in-law found a crowd gathered in the lobby. She approached the group and found Beatrice lying dead. Her uterine wall had been damaged, allowing a clot to work its way into Beatrice's lung, killing her. >On March 7, Hart was arrested. He showed authorities through his premises and gave instruments into evidence. He was convicted of abortion and manslaughter in Beatrice's death and died in prison in 1948.

During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.



On March 6, 1928, Lucille Smith, a 24-year-old store clerk and homemaker, died at Chicago's Burrows Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day at the office of midwife Emma Schulz. Schulz was indicted for felony murder on April 1, 1929. The following year, Schulz was arrested after the death of 23-year-old Gladys Schaffer. These deaths predate the development of the antibiotics and blood products that began saving lives in the upcoming decades.

Dr. C.W. Milliken was charged with performing a fatal abortion on Florence Cobb. Ohio records indicate that Florence died on March 6. It was a month for Milliken -- or, more to the point, for his patients. Iva Triplett died under his care on March 9.Milliken was held on $10,000 bail in each case, Iva's and Florence's. An earlier patient, 19-year-old Francis Karies, had died in Chicago in 1920 after undergoing an abortion at Milliken's Ohio practice.

Modern Anesthesia Mishap, Two Historic Deaths

Gwendolyn Cliett, age 29, was about to undergo a safe, legal abortion and tubal ligation at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia on March 5, 1980. She was 8 to 10 weeks pregnant. Before the procedure could be done, Gwendolen reacted to the anesthesia and died.

On March 5, 1907, Mrs. Ella Brunswick, age 24, died at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. In a deathbed statement, Ella implicated a 35-year-old midwife named Kunigundi Hardman.

On March 5, 1900, Mrs. Alice Koester died in German Hospital from complications of an illegal abortion evidently performed there that day by Maria Janke. Janke was arrested March 10, and held by Coroner's Jury on March 11. She was sentenced by Judge Clifford to Joliet Penitentiary. Janke's employment status is listed as "professional", but nothing more specific is indicated to clarify why she would be performing an illegal abortion in a hospital.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.

Pet Peeve: Pro-Lifers Going Nuts Over Every Ambulance

I'm not going to post links to any specific stories because I don't want to encourage people who do this.

Pro-lifers really need to stop treating it as a breaking news story every time an ambulance pulls up to an abortion facility.

Calling an ambulance is not a sign of quackery. Trust me. I've been an EMT.

1. The person being loaded into the ambulance might not be a patient. People -- often elderly abortionists -- work at abortion facilities. Patients are accompanied by friends and/or family members. Even if the person on the gurney is a young woman, she might still be a staff member or somebody who accompanied a patient.

2. The person being loaded into the ambulance might not be all that seriously sick or injured. Doctors will often send a patient (who might not be an abortion patient; see #1) to the hospital by ambulance as a precaution if symptoms indicate that there might be a problem that the facility is ill-equipped to deal with.

3. An ambulance-worthy patient situation might not be the facility's fault. Women have shown up for abortions with some serious pre-existing conditions. There was a case in I believe Mississippi in which a woman showed up in an advanced state of pregnancy with symptoms of pre-eclampsia. The facility in question gave her RU-486 and sent her home. The responsible thing to do would have been to immediately call an ambulance -- which would have sent the prolifers into a tizzy of speculation and accusations of malpractice even though it would have just been the facility dealing appropriately with a pre-existing condition. A woman might also develop a complication that is an inherent risk of abortion or anesthesia for which calling an ambulance is totally appropriate.

Calling an ambulance is not a sign of quackery, or a sign that the facility is dangerous, or even that a woman has necessarily suffered an abortion complication. It could simply be a sign that the facility is simply following responsible protocols should a patient be in danger at any point, be it during the initial physical examination, during the abortion, or while in recovery. Yes, we'd prefer that they not be doing abortions. But it's not a sign that they're doing them carelessly if they call an ambulance just to be on the safe side.

So when that ambulance pulls up, by all means document the situation. But wait until you know what's going on before concluding that the staff had screwed up. And remember that we are to praise whatever is praiseworthy. If it turns out that Acme Reproductive Services called an ambulance because the patient Dr. Quacksalot sent to them actually has an ectopic pregnancy that is ready to rupture, they should be praised for doing right for that patient, not raked over the coals for suspected quackery.

Abortion Deaths: Who Benefitted from Legalization?

Sixteen-year-old Patricia Chacon underwent a safe and legal second-trimester abortion at the hands of either Edward Allred or Leslie Orleans at Allred's Avalon Hospital in Los Angeles on the morning of March 3, 1984. Patricia retained fetal tissues, so she was scheduled for a second procedure that afternoon to complete the abortion. Allred claimed that Patricia died of an embolism during the second surgery.  Patricia's parents claim that the child bled to death while left unattended.An autopsy found numerous catgut sutures in Patricia's vagina and hemorrhage in her uterus. Death was attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) due to abortion-induced amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid in the bloodstream). Patricia's parents sued Allred and Orleans for their daughter's death.Avalon Hospital was part of Edward Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a National Abortion Federation member facility. Patricia is one of many women to die at one of Edward Allred's facilities. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include Denise Holmes, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Laniece Dorsey, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Susan Levy, Deanna Bell, Christine Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant.

While we know much about Family Planning Associates Medical Group, I have been unable to uncover much about Dr. James R. Struble, who was indicted in Chicago for the March 3, 1916 abortion death of 43-year-old Augusta Bloom. Augusta had been taken to Norwegian Deaconess Hospital but in spite of the care she received there she died of septic peritonitis.  Two years earlier, Struble had been implicated in the abortion death of 24-year-old Frances Fergus.

I am unable to see how Patricia, Denise, Mary, Josefina, Laniece, Joyce, Tami, Susan, Deanna, Christine, Ta Tanisha, Nakia, Maria Leho, Kimberly, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle fared any better than did Augusta and Frances, though Allred and Orleans certainly fared better than Struble, since there was no threat of prison for them.

A Chicago Death from the Early 20th Century

On March 1, 1919, 22-year-old Jeanette Ruff died in her Chicago home from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.