On April 26, 1908, 32-year-old restaurant cashier Cora Johnson died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by a criminal abortion perpetrated on April 18.
Cora, a native of Iowa, was the wife of Olaf Johnson, a railroad conductor. They had a daughter who was about 11 years old. She left an estate of $600 to her family.
Cora's abortion was atypical in that it was not performed by a physician.
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.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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