Accidental Poisoning, 1926

Ida Bosen, age 35, died in Chicago March 22, 1926. The mother of six had accidentally poisoned herself while trying to induce an abortion with an abortifacient.

Holiday Deaths: 1875 and 1913

An Abortifacient in New York, 1875

"The community around Oyster Bay are greatly excited over an abortion case that has been brought to light." The woman in question was identified only as Miss Bertram, so I will call her Agatha.

Agatha was engaged to a New York man. The wedding was to take place on July 4, 1875. However, Agatha became pregnant before the wedding. She purchased an abortifacient which didn't have the effect she desired, so she took some other sort of abortifacient. This second abortifacient did the job, leading to the birth of a near-term infant, which was buried in a potato patch. Agatha herself took ill and died a few days later -- mere hours before her scheduled wedding. The physician who was attending her declared the cause of death to be the abortion.

Agatha's fiance denied being the father of the dead baby. "There is a suspicion entertained of another young man". Police began an investigation into who he might be, and into who sold Agatha the fatal drugs.

An Unknown Profession in Chicago, 1913

On July 4, 1913, 33-year-old Russian immigrant Mary Goldstein, nee Solomon, died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by Minnie Bernstein. Bernstein is identified only as "abortion provider", so she might have been a lay abortionist, though given the proliferation of doctors and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time, she might have been a trained medical professional.

Bernstein was held by the Coroner, and indicted by the Grand Jury for felony murder on September 1, but the case never went to trial.

19th Century Tragic Error; 20th Century Tragic Complication

Oil of Cedar

An inquest was held in St. Louis, Missouri, regarding the January 3, 1866 death of 23-year-old Aurora Heaton. According to news coverage, "Before coming to this city, Miss Heaton became acquainted with a young Scotchman named Isaac McDonald, and while here the acquaintance ripened into intimacy, and finally into an ardent attachment. McDonald was a student at Stewart's Commercial College. Feeling that their intimacy would lead to unpleasant consequences, the young girl took certain medicines to prevent those dreaded consequences."  Aurora and Isaac went out for a walk along the river, evidently discussing Aurora's symptoms of pregnancy. They bought something at a drug store before Isaac returned to college. Aurora wrote to tell Isaac that the first medicines hadn't worked, so she went to another drug store, where she bought two ounces of oil of cedar, "medicine used as a diuretic and emenagogue for female sickness and for other purposes; sometimes used by women to procure abortion." Aurora took a one-ounce dose on Tuesday night. Some time between 10:00 and 11:00 she went into convulsions, then fell into a coma. She was dead just after midnight.  The post-mortem examination found some oil of cedar still in her stomach. Not only were there no signs of sickness in any of Aurora's organs -- there were also no signs of pregnancy.

Loretta Morton was 16 years old when she underwent a legal abortion in December of 1983. She was sent home with birth control pills.  On January 3, 1984, Loretta was at home, and having trouble breathing. Her mother called for an ambulance.  The ambulance crew assessed Loretta, decided she was stable, and left. They were called back ten minutes later because Loretta had lost consciousness.  The crew rushed Loretta to a hospital, but attempts to resuscitate her were in vain. Within an hour of having lost consciousness, she was dead.  An autopsy showed that she had died from a pulmonary embolism from the abortion.