Friday, June 21, 2013

"Safe" or "Unsafe"?

On June 21, 1929, 25-year-old Fannie Shead, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, died in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day by an unknown perpetrator. Interestingly, the coroner only recommended an arrest for "unintentional manslaughter," not the usual homicide by abortion. I wonder if this might be due to the fact that unlike the other victims of Chicago abortionists whose cases I've documented, Fannie Shead was Black. Oddly, the database lists a date a defendant was arrested -- August 10 -- but does not list a suspect.

Since I don't know who the abortionist was, I can't determine if Fannie's fatal abortion meets the criteria for "safe" abortion -- though it certainly wasn't safe for Fannie and her baby. Addressing whatever issues were convincing her that abortion was her only option, of course, would have prevented her death, regardless of who the neighborhood abortionists were.

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