Saturday, April 26, 2025

April 26, 1920: Fatal Midwife in Chicago

SUMMARY: On April 26, 1920, 26-year-old Catherine Kasper died in Chicago after an abortion perpetrated by midwife Rose Preib.

In April of 1920, 26-year-old homemaker Catherine McGowan Kasper made a connection to 47-year-old midwife Rose Preib, one of Chicago's underground abortion practitioners. Most were physicians or midwives.

On April 26, Catherine died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago from sepsis caused by the abortion. Preib, whose profession is listed in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database only as "abortion provider," was arrested and charged in the death. She was acquitted on February 29, 1924.

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

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