Deadly Doctors, 1991, 1984, and 1935

Safe and Legal in New Jersey, 1991

On April 6, 1991, "Terri," age 34, had an abortion at a doctor's office in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey. A nurse called the police saying that they needed emergency help for an unconscious patient. According to the police report, the doctor had already left the facility when the nurse called for help. Terri was taken to the hospital and placed on life support. She was pronounced dead on April 11, 1991.

Delayed Transport Leads to Death in Texas, 1984

Dr. Raymond Showery

Abortionist Raymond E. Showery was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the safe, legal abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca on April 11, 1984.

Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion on April 11, 1984. She was about 19 weeks pregnant. During the abortion, Showery tore a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.  Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial for manslaughter in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local pro-choicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.


Benevolence To Young Men, Death to Young Women

Dr. Guy E. Brewer

Doris Jones, a 20-year-old mother of two, died April 11, 1935, from complications of a criminal abortion perpetrated on April 3. Dr. Guy E. Brewer, a 53-year-old bachelor known for his benevolence toward college students, was fingered as the culprit by Doris' husband, Victor. Brewer was a quiet, small-town doctor in Garber, Oklahoma and immensely popular for his benevolence in putting local young men through college.

Doris' 22-year-old husband, Victor, a grocery clerk, had not known about the abortion until after Doris took ill. He reported the deadly abortion to police, whereupon his employer retaliated by firing him.

Victor at least had the company of other bereaved families whose loved ones had died from abortions perpetrated by Brewer. Hermoine Fowler, a 20-year-old college student,Wanda Lee Gray, age 20, Myrtle Rose, age 21, and Elizabeth Shaw, age 23, evidently died in early June of 1935.

Brewer pleaded guilty to all six deaths but only got a slap on the wrist -- six four-year sentences, to run concurrently.

Septic Abortion in New Jersey, 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, in Maplewood, Essex County, New Jersey, leaving behind a husband.

The Gamut of Illegal Abortions

A Doctor's Work, 1929

On February 16, 1929, Ruth Weir, of East Orange, New Jersey, died at Orange Memorial Hospital of sepsis contracted through a criminal abortion

Dr. James R. Chamberlain testified that he had examined Ruth at her home and had admitted her to the hospital due to a septic condition. Dr. James Wilson testified that he had treated Ruth in the hospital during late January and that she was suffering from septicemia.

Dr. Maurice Sturm was arrested and charged with first degree murder when Ruth implicated him in a deathbed statement. Sturm admitted to performing the abortion, but insisted that it had not been illegal because it was necessary to save Ruth's life.

After his arrest, Sturm alleged that District Attorney William D. Ryan and Judge Hanley of the District Court had come to his home and demanded $10,000 or they would prosecute him "to the limit."

Sturm, who was later acquitted of the manslaughter charge in Ruth's death, said that that $1000 he had given the judge after DA Ryan's resignation was a gift and not part of the bribe money.


An Unspecified Midwife, 1925

On February 16, 1925, 28-year-old homemaker Agnes Crowe died in Chicago's West Side Hospital from a criminal abortion performed that day. The coroner indicated that a female midwife was responsible for Agnes' death, but did not name the guilty party.


Self-Induced in Pittsburgh, 1917

The testimony E. G. Noah gave to the Allegheny County coroner's jury did little to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of his 34-year-old wife, Helen. He said she'd been “flooding” on Sunday, December 14, 1917 and had gone to Dr. W. J. Connelly, who had prescribed medicine for her. She'd gone back again later and been told that she had “inflammation of the womb.”

On February 3, he said, she'd informed him “that her monthly had just appeared and she had used a catheter to see if they would not appear.”

On February 5, she took to her bed. Connelly came to check on her, and she told him about the catheter. He continued to care for her, finally summoning an ambulance and admitting her to Pittsburgh's Presbyterian Hospital on February 9. There she was treated for massive infection until her death at 2:58 p.m. On February 16.

Evidently the coroner's jury was able to make enough sense of Mr. Noah's testimony to conclude that Helen died of “Puerpueral Septicemia Following Self Inflicted Abortion.”

Unknown Profession, 1890

On February 16, 1890, Mary Keegan died in Chicago from complications of an illegal abortion performed that day. Mary died at the location where the abortion was performed. Mrs. Annie Schneider was arrested and held by the Coroner's Jury. She is described as employed in an unidentified profession.

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Helen Noah death certificate

Medical Complications and a Suicide After Abortions

Three Early 20th Century Chicago Abortion Deaths

On October 1, 1908, 21-year-old Mary Rahn died in a Chicago hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day. Mary was a Chicago native, a single woman who did housework for a living. She was the daughter of German immigrants. her father was a glassmaker, her mother a homemaker. She had three older brothers. Midwife Frida Trappe was arrested and held by the coroner's jury on October 14. The case went to trial, but Trappe was acquitted on July 12 0f 1909. Trappe's employment status is recorded as "Outside labor force (incl. criminals)", which may be an indication that she was a professional lay abortionist.

On October 1, 1914, eighteen-year-old Lillian Giovenco died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. Dr. Eva Shaver, Dr. Leopold Pijan, and Dr. John Fernow were held by the coroner in Lillie's death. Shaver had been identified as the abortionist by Lillie's husband, Frank. The coroner concluded that the fatal abortion had been preformed on September 5 in a medical facility that my source describes as "Abortion place". It was most likely Shaver's practice in her Chicago home. Eva Shaver convicted in Lillie's death, appealed, and was granted a new trial while under indictment for the 1915 abortion death of Anna Johnson, which Shaver had tried to disguise as a suicide by shooting the dead woman in the head as she lay on the floor of Shaver's home.


On October 1, 1922, 21-year-old bookkeeper Margaret Sullivan died in her Chicago home on Peck Street from hemorrhage and infection caused by an abortion performed at an undetermined time and place. The person or persons responsible were never caught and it is thus impossible to learn if Margaret went to one of the many physician-abortionists or midwife-abortionists practicing in Chicago at the time.

Safe and Legal in Washington, DC, 1989

Brenda Banks was 35 years old and 13 weeks pregnant when she went to Hillcrest Women's Surgi-Center in Washington, DC, for a safe, legal abortion. The abortion was performed by Llewelyn Crooks on September 30, 1989.

Brenda went into shock, and was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and transfused Brenda with 20 units of red blood cells, to no avail. She died the following day, October 1, 1989. Brenda's uterus had been perforated and several major blood vessels had been cut or severed entirely.

Her survivors were unable to collect damages from Crooks and Hillcrest because Crooks' insurance company was insolvent, and Hillcrest carried no insurance. I have been unable to determine if the Hillcrest where Brenda had her abortion is affiliated with the Hillcrest in Pennsylvania where Kelly Morse had her fatal abortion.

Suicide in New Jersey, 2001

Stacy Zallie

Stacy Zallie, then a 19-year-old college student, wanted to become an elementary school teacher. Though she loved children and wanted to become a mother, she went to  Steven Chase Brigham's "American Medical Services" in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on July 6, 2001 for an abortion. There, Stacy was provided with a "Fact Sheet on Surgical Abortion" which did not address the risks of major depression or suicide but merely recommended that a patient should talk to a counselor or psychiatrist if she thought she needed help.

She kept the abortion a secret from her family, but they noticed behavior changes. Her parents arranged psychiatric care after Stacy took an overdose of pills. Four months later, without saying why, Stacy quit going to therapy and resumed her drinking binges. On October 1, 2002, mere days before she was to serve as a bridesmaid in her brother's wedding, Stacy took her own life after at least three failed prior attempts at suicide.

After learning of the abortion and Stacy's unbearable anguish afterward, her parents started the **Stacy Zallie Foundation** to provide post-abortion care so that nobody else's daughter suffers the fate their daughter did. The Zallie family takes no stand on abortion, seeking to keep their focus on providing desperately-needed aftercare to suffering women, regardless of politics, creed, or religion.

Abortion is associated with an increase in all forms of violent death: accident, homicide, and suicide. Other post-abortion suicides include:

• "Sandra Roe," age 18, who killed herself using an unidentified means in April of 1971
• Sandra Kaiser, age 15, who threw herself off an overpass into traffic in November of 1984
• Carol Cunningham, age 21, who shut herself in her garage, ran her car, and died from the exhaust fumes in August of 1986
• Arlin della Cruz, age 19, who hanged herself in the woods near her house in October of 1992
• “Haley Mason”, age 22, who overdosed on pills and alcohol in April of 2001
• Laura Grunas, age 30, who fatally shot her baby's father and then herself in August of 2006

Contrasting Abortions, 1929 and 1985

A Mystery Abortion, Chicago, 1929

On June 21, 1929, 25-year-old maid 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.

Safe and Legal in New Jersey, 1985

Seventeen-year-old Deborah Lozinski had languished for two months in a coma, hospitalized after a safe and legal abortion at Medical Care Center in Woodbridge, New Jersey. On June 21, 1985, Deborah's parents filed suit against Dr. Scheininger, Dr. Binod Sinha, and other staff for failing to properly screen and examine Deborah prior to her abortion. Sinha was the anesthesiologist.
A review of Deborah's care found that a nurse-anesthetist failed to properly prepare Deborah by removing her make-up, nail polish, and jewelry so that changes in skin color could be noted. No monitoring devices were in place to track Deborah's vital signs.  As Deborah began to come out of anesthesia, the nurse detected signs that there might be a leak in or around Deborah's oxygen mask. While the nurse was looking for the leak, the doctor finished the abortion and left the procedure room. Sinha had not been present in the room at all, so this left Deborah without a physician on hand while she was still under anesthesia.
The nurse then left the head of the table, where she should have been monitoring Deborah's condition, to take her legs out of the stirrups and reposition her. It was when the nurse returned her attention to Deborah's care that she saw that Deborah was not breathing and had no detectable pulse. It was at that point that the nurse summoned Sinha.  Sinha hooked up a heart monitor and ordered CPR to be initiated. They were able to get Deborah's heart beating again, but her pupils would not respond to light. Emergency services were summoned.
A nurse from the John F. Kennedy Medical Center Mobile Intensive Care Unit arrived at the clinic, she was struck by the fact that Deborah's heavy makeup had not been removed before administering anesthesia, making it difficult to assess whether she was getting enough oxygen. As a result, Deborah suffered the brain damage that had caused her coma. During her hospitalization, she suffered repeated infections and developed pneumonia.
Shortly after midnight on June 22, a hospital staffer checked on Deborah and found her dead; she evidently had died shortly before midnight.

Deadly Docs, Pre- and Post-Legalization

Oklahoma, 1935: Husband Fired from Job for Reporting Deadly Abortion Doctor

OkGuy E. Brewer

Doris Jones, a 20-year-old mother of two, died April 11, 1935, from complications of a criminal abortion perpetrated on April 3. Dr. Guy E. Brewer, a 53-year-old bachelor known for his benevolence toward college students, was fingered as the culprit by Doris' husband, Victor. Brewer was a quiet, small-town doctor in Garber, Oklahoma and immensely popular for his benevolence in putting local young men through college. 

Doris' 22-year-old husband, Victor, a grocery clerk, had not known about the abortion until after Doris took ill. He reported the deadly abortion to police, whereupon his employer retaliated by firing him. Victor at least had the company of other bereaved families whose loved ones had died from abortions perpetrated by Brewer. Hermoine Fowler, a 20-year-old coed, died in June of 1934. Ruby Ford died on April 1, 1934. Wanda Lee Gray, age 20, Myrtle Rose, age 21, and Elizabeth Shaw, age 23, evidently died in early June of 1935.

Brewer pleaded guilty to all six deaths but only got a slap on the wrist -- six four-year sentences, to run concurrently.

Texas, 1984: Out on Bail for Murder, Abortion Doc Lets Patient Die

Raymond Showery

Abortionist Raymond E. Showery (pictured) was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the safe, legal abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca. Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion on April 11, 1984. She was about 19 weeks pregnant, and her abortion began some time after 2:00 p.m. Showery's defense team said that Mickey was not bleeding excessively immediately after her abortion, which they say took between 45 minutes to an hour to perform, but that a nurse discovered the hemorrhage, and Mickey was taken into the operating room for a transfusion. However, Showery would not provide Mickey's records to the Grand Jury on the grounds that they might incriminate him. It turns out that during the abortion, Showery had torn a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy. Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial for manslaughter in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local pro-choicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.

New Jersey, 1991: Sloppy Anesthesia Practices Lead to Lingering Death for Teen

On April 6, 1991, "Terri," age 34, had an abortion at a doctor's office in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey. A nurse called the police saying that they needed emergency help for an unconscious patient. According to the police report, the doctor had already left the facility when the nurse called for help. Terri was taken to the hospital and placed on life support. She was pronounced dead on April 11, 1991.

Typical Abortion Deaths a Century Ago

Typical Late 19th Century Abortion

On March 24, 1870, Catherine "Kate" Shields died in Jersey City from an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Charles Cobel. "The infamous doctor was arrested, as was also one Patrick Waterson, charged with having outraged the person of the unfortunate girl." The coroner's jury also reprimanded Mrs. Downes, who kept a Jersey City boardinghouse, for failing to properly look after Kate.

During the coroner's inquest, a letter from Cobel to Waterson was produced, in which he demanded $25 for the abortion, threatening to sue if he did not get his fee. Waterson testified that his only knowledge of Kate was that there had been a servant by that name working in the boardinghouse. However, on her deathbed Kate named him as the only man she had ever been with.

Cobel had already been held responsible for the 1856 death of Catharine DeBreuxal, the 1858 death of. Amelia Weber, the 1865 death of Emma Wolfer. He was later implicated in the 1875 death of Antoinette Fennor.

Two Typical Early 20th Century Chicago Abortions

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.

On March 24, 1915, 31-year-old Frances Kulczyk died at her Chicago home from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator. Most Chicago abortions of that era were perpetrated by either doctors or midwives.

A Doctor in 1901, a Mystery in 1922

On January 7, 1901, 21-year-old Juliet Pottinger died in her home at 520 Wood St., Chicago, from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Maggie Becker was arrested April 24, based on a coroner's verdict that day. Becker was held to grand jury, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 14 years in Joilet Penitentiary. It had taken the jury five hours to reach the verdict. Though the actual deathbed statement Juliet had given was not admitted as evidence, both Juliet's husband and her mother were permitted to testify about things Juliet had said to them before dying. Juliet's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

The January 7, 1922 death of Irene Michaelson of Philadelphia presents ground for head-scratching. Irene reportedly died of peritonitis at City Hospital in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after leaping from the second-story window of the Bricker Sanitarium, "in the heart of the most exclusive residential section of Atlantic City." Dr. William H. Bricker Jr., of Philadelphia and Atlantic City, was captured in Philadelphia. At trial, he, was found guilty of performing the abortion that killed Irene and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, and fined $5,000. News coverage says, "Bricker collapsed when sentence was pronounced." Now I must research a bit more about who Irene was, and why she jumped.