RealChoice: September 11, 1970: Choosing The Riskier Alternative

Thursday, September 11, 2025

September 11, 1970: Choosing The Riskier Alternative

William R. Day, a 21-year-old microbiology student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, was given a five-year suspended sentence at Walpole State Prison, to serve five years of probation instead, after pleading guilty to charges relating to the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Nancy Kierzek a senior at Westfield State College.

Nancy, the daughter of Stanley and Jennie Skwira Kierzek, had been born on September 2, 1948. She was a graduate of Holyoke High School and was also survived by three siblings, Thomas, Elaine, and Catherine.

Day, who intended to become a doctor, had studied the information he could find about abortion methods, then perpetrated the abortion in his apartment using a catheter at around 3 pm on September 10, 1970.

Nancy bled heavily so Day rushed her in his car to Holyoke Hospital, arriving at around 6 pm. At that point Nancy was unconscious. She was rushed into intensive care.

Hospital staff notified the police, who arrested Day at around 7:30 that evening at the hospital. A search of his car revealed what authorities characterized as abortion instruments. He was initially held without bail.

Nancy, who had been about three months into her pregnancy, died just after midnight on September 11, 1970, around six hours after her admission. Her death was tentatively attributed to an embolism but an autopsy indicated that she had quickly gone septic.

William's attorney had argued for a suspended sentence, characterizing the decision to commit a home abortion as a "tragic mistake." He asserted that William had meant Nancy no harm; they had been dating for two years and planned to marry eventually. District Attorney Matthew J. Ryan Jr. had no objection, saying, "This boy is not a criminal type; sending him to jail to meet the types of people there would be a second tragedy."

Abortion-rights advocates such as D. P. Kline made the claim that "pregnant women in Western Massachusetts faced two choices: to continue the pregnancy to term (and either keep the child or put it up for adoption) or to seek an illegal abortion." However, abortion had been legalized in New York, and hospitals in Boston were loosening their guidelines for "therapeutic" abortions. Why Nancy would submit to an illegal abortion when she was within less than 2 hours driving distance of a legal abortion remains a mystery.

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