1968: Safe, legal abortion leads to death

Stella Saenz, age 42, had arranged for a legal abortion in the spring of 1968. On April 11, she was admitted to Los Angeles County General Hospital with sepsis. Doctors administered penicillin. Stella went into anaphylactic shock; neither she nor the doctors had realized that Stella was allergic to penicillin. Doctors tried to treat both the infection and Stella's reaction to the penicillin, to no avail. She died on April 13.

The California Department of Public Health classified Stella's death as both a drug reaction death and a legal abortion death.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Died after abortion by Ida Cantor

On February 6, 1924, Ida Cantor performed an abortion on a woman not named in Westlaw summaries. I'll refer to her as "Patsy" Roe.

Patsy developed septicemia after the abortion, and went to a hospital on February 11. She was treated there until her death on February 26.

The jury found that Ida used improperly sterilized or non-sterile instruments in the abortion.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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