Four Different Scenarios over Half a Century

Typical Chicago Abortion Death, 1921

On May 4, 1921, 37-year-old Hungarian immigrant Katherine Falesch died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by 37-year-old midwife Eva Lorch. Lorch was arraigned and held on $3000 bond, but there is no indication that the case went any further. If she were indeed guilty, this would have been typical of Chicago abortionists of the era, since there were an abundance of physicians and midwives plying that trade there at the time.

An Early Beneficiary of New York's Abortion Progressivism, 1972

In February of 1972, 21-year-old "Robin" traveled from Massachusetts to New York for a first trimester abortion. She underwent the procedure and returned home. About two weeks later, she started suffering abdominal pain. A month later, she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia and hepatitis. Three months after her abortion, on May 4, 1972, Robin died, leaving two children motherless. Public health officials attributed her death to the abortion.

Hiding, not Stopping, the Deadly Bleeding, 1976

Shortly after noon on May 4, 1976, 29-year-old Maria Gomez underwent a safe and legal vacuum abortion at Atlantic Family Medical Clinic in Los Angeles County. Within an hour and a half she had bled to death.  The coroner report indicates that Dr. John Blodgett claimed that Maria must have bled to death from an "old" cervical cut. The autopsy found otherwise. Maria's lacerated and gashed uterus still contained the severed head of her unborn baby, and more than a quart of blood was pooled in her abdomen. Maria's lacerations had not been sutured, but her vagina had been packed with gauze, thus hiding but not stopping the bleeding.

"Like a Haunted House," 1987

Twenty-four-year-old Patricia Ann King went to Dean H. Diment in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a safe and legal abortion on May 4, 1987. Patricia went into cardiac arrest after being injected with anesthetic. Paramedics arrived at Diment's Statewide Clinic and found the place so unclean that they could have written their names in the dust. Diment told them that he had injected Neo-Synephrine and sodium bicarbonate into Patricia's heart but no one had performed CPR or made any other attempt to revive her. She had been in arrest for 20 minutes. Paramedics could not revive her.

Diment's associates at Statewide Clinic had a history of legal troubles. The medical director, Jimmie C. Tooney, had pleaded guilty in 1973 of writing narcotics prescriptions for a convicted drug dealer. Administrator William R. Cloud had been charged with conspiracy to commit illegal abortion in the early 1970's but had the charge dropped after abortion was legalized by Roe v. Wade.

Statewide Clinic advertised that it was "licensed by the state," but at the time of Patricia's death, abortion clinics were not regulated by the state of Oklahoma. Statewide had not been inspected since the attorney general had declared state oversight unconstitutional in 1984. 

Why Aren't Pro-Choice Groups Doing "Stings" on Abortion Clinics?

I find it very telling that pro-choice groups so often find time to do "sting" operations on pregnancy resource centers to make sure they aren't annoying abortion-minded women. If they care so much, why are't they putting some of their efforts into "stings" on abortion clinics like Virginia Health Group in Fairfax, VA. Here are a couple of excerpts from a report on an state inspection on May 5, 2016.

This one is wider than the others because I wanted to include the name and address of the facility:


A state inspector asked a staff member to demonstrate that the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) was working properly. This is a vital piece of emergency equipment, absolutely necessary to save the life of a patient whose heart might stop due to anesthesia mishaps or excessive bleeding.

When the staff member turned on the AED, it said, "Place electrodes, replace battery."

Maybe I'm just being an anti-choice fanatic insisting that abortion clinics adhere to nit-picky standards, but keeping fresh batteries in the emergency defibrillator seems like a no-brainer.

 In this section, an inspector overhears two staff members discussing the toilet being stopped up in the patient bathroom. One of them comments, "That happens all the time in that bathroom."

One staff member put on gloves, carried a plunger from the staff bathroom to the patient bathroom, and plunged the toilet. The staff person then carried the plunger down the hall to put it back in the staff bathroom. The staff member took off the gloves but did not wash hands. He or she only used hand sanitizer.

That staff person, who had still not washed hands or put on clean scrubs after plunging a toilet went into a procedure room to hold a patient's hand during an abortion.

During this patient's care, a staff member was wearing gloves "visibly soiled with gloves." Another staff member put pills for the patient into that staff member's gloved hand.

I administer medications at a home for a person with developmental disabilities. We do not touch the person's medications. Most medications are in blister packs, and we pop the pills directly into a medication cup. If this person gets an OTC drug such as aspirin, the pills are tipped into a medication cup. We don't touch them. Maybe I have unrealistically high standards for an abortion clinic, but I don't think touching the medications is appropriate at all, much less handling them with obviously soiled gloves. Surely the standards adhered to by residential service workers aren't too high a bar for medical care workers.

Moving right along.

The inspector went into the patient bathroom and saw boxes of patients' medical records. "One of the boxes had the top off, was lying on its side, and records were spilling out of the side of the box. The record storage area was accessible to anyone who entered the patient bathroom."

Again, I might have unrealistically high expectations, but this seems inappropriate to me. Not only could any random patient just sit on the toilet and browse through other patients' records, anybody with access to the patient restroom could put a patient's record into a large purse and remove it from the clinic entirely. Elsewhere in the inspection report a staff person tells inspectors that patient files are just stored in those boxes in the bathroom, in alphabetical order by patient name. How hard would it be for a patient to browse through to see if anybody she knows had had an abortion there?

This is actually from earlier in the report. It describes what the team of inspectors found when they first walked into the clinic.

The patient waiting area was dirty. "The carpet was dirty and had large dark stains in multiple areas. There was debris on the floor and black smudges on multiple areas on the walls. There were fifteen (15) chairs which were made of a black strap type cloth/elastic type material that could not be adequately cleaned or disinfected."

The procedure room is actually worse.

"[T]he cabinet doors were taped together with a micropore tape which was adhered to the cabinet doors. When the surveyor attempted to open the cabinet to view the contents, the door fell off. In the bottom of this cabinet was a blue chux (pad) which had debris and dried brown material (betadine) that had leaked all over the pad.

Next time you read a story about a "sting" operation on "phony clinics," ask yourself why there's so much concern about whether or not prolifers are annoying women, and no apparent concern about whether abortion clinics are actively endangering them.

A Mysterious Death in 1915

Mary Shvernieckas of Western Avenue in Chicago died on May 3, 1915 from complications of an abortion perpetrated by an unidentified person.

Aside from a sidebar in the May 29, 1915 Chicago Tribune including Mary among women who had died in Chicago so far that year, I've been unable to learn anything whatsoever about Mary. She is not even showing up in Chicago or Cook County death records.

Safe and Legal in 1985

1985: Hidden Injury, Lingering Death

The survivors of 29-year-old Kathleen Gilbert sued David Turow andWomen's Aid Clinic when she bled to death after her safe and legal abortion. The family accused Turow of performing an incomplete abortion, lacerating Kathleen's uterus, and failing to detect her injuries. She was sent home and continued to bleed and pass clots for a month before her death on May 2, 1985. Kathleen's death certificate confirms that Kathleen's death was due to hemorrhage from a perforated uterus.

A Gruesome Tale, A Midwife's Work, and a Back-Alley Doctor

A Gruesome Family Secret from 1916

Maud Tabor Virgo

In November of 1915, Maud Tabor of Lawton, Michigan became the fifth wife of undertaker-turned-real estate salesman Joseph Virgo, who reportedly told Maud that he didn't want any children. The two of them had known each other for years and had been romantically involved prior to the wedding. But afterward, Joe and Maud evidently didn't hit it off very well, because on February 1, she returned home to Lawton, leaving her husband and her married name behind.

On May 1, 1916, a few months after the death of her father, 46-year-old Maud vanished. Stories circulated in town that Maud had gone to a western ranch for her health, that Maud was teaching in Salt Lake City, and that she was out west scouting out valuable mining property. Suspicions arose, since Maud had not taken leave of anybody and nobody got a letter or post card from her. Sarah refused to discuss the topic with neighbors, who dismissed this refusal as part of Sarah's eccentric personality.

Eventually her brother Walter began to tell people that Maud had died while out of town.

On November 20, 1919, Maud's sister, Florence, noticed that there was something under a pile of old shingles in the basement of the family home. She moved some shingles aside and saw that the object was a trunk. Grabbing it by the handle, she started to drag it into the middle of the cellar only to have the end pull off. Protruding from the end of the trunk was a human foot.

Opening the trunk

Florence immediately fled to a neighbor's house. The neighbor summoned the police, who opened the trunk and found a dead woman, clad in a white shirtwaist, black skirt, and white stockings. Doctors and undertakers examining the body found it to be in a remarkable state of preservation. It had, in fact, been embalmed. Even though the nose was missing, there was little doubt that the face was that of Maud. 

Both Walter and their mother were arrested. Sarah Tabor gave multiple stories about how Maud had died and about why she had kept the body in a trunk in the basement. The only consistent item was the date of death: May 1, 1916.

Investigators worked at untangling the tales and eventually concluded that either Maud's mother or her estranged husband had perpetrated an abortion on her, using chloroform as an anesthetic, and Maud had died during the process. They also arrested Virgo. 

Eventually Walter Tabor told police that his mother had confessed to him that she had perpetrated the abortion herself.  Eventually, Maud's mother was the only person tried in the case. Her first trial resulted in a hung jury after 36 hours of deliberation. They were stuck at a vote of 8 to 4 in favor of conviction. The second was dismissed due to lack of evidence. She had spent nearly all of her wealth on attorneys in order to keep her freedom. 

A Midwife in Chicago, 1925

On May 1, 1925, 26-year-old Mary Sayers died at a Chicago residence from a criminal abortion performed on her that day. Midwife Edna Marie Dietrich was arrested the following day.

A Stereotypical Back Alley Doctor, Kentucky, 1928

On Saturday, April 14, 1928, Dr. T. D. Goodman was called to see a young woman named Bessie Kouns. He found her in a great deal of pain, with considerable swelling and tenderness of the lower abdomen. He treated her for several days,  but her condition was not improving so on the 17th he had her admitted to Stephenson Hospital in Ashland, Kentucky. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. On April 24, the peritonitis had caused bowel obstruction, requiring surgery. Prior to the surgery, which Bessie did not expect to survive, she made a deathbed statement to Dr. Stephenson.

She told Stephenson that at 7:00 on a Saturday evening, she had gone to 60-year-old Dr. Henry C. Dorroh's office to keep an appointment for an abortion. Dorroh had been drinking and didn't at first recognize her. She reminded him of the appointment. He cussed and told her to get on the table. He approached her with an instrument that he dropped on the floor, then picked up and used on her. He "nearly killed her", Stephenson testified that Bessie said. Stephenson's testimony was supported by Mr. Watt Prichard, who was present at the time Bessie made her declaration.

Despite the surgery, Bessie died from septic peritonitis on May 1 at the age of 29.

When the case went to trial, Dorroh insisted that he had treated Bessie in February, but only for gonorrhea, and that the treatment might had caused an abortion had Bessie indeed been pregnant. The expert testimony was that the described treatment would indeed be appropriate for gonorrhea, but testimony was divided on whether it would cause an abortion.  Dorroh was found guilty by a jury that included six women, but his conviction was later set aside and a new trial ordered.

Two Typical and Prolific Chicago Abortionists

On April 30, 1917, Mrs. Ruth Lemaire, age 24, died at West Side Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. In her deathbed statement she implicated one of Chicago's many physician/abortionists, 50-year-old Dr. Lillian Hobbs. However, the coroner's jury did not place blame on Hobbs, and the case came to naught. Hobbs was later convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.

On April 30, 1923, 29-year-old homemaker Emma Herod died in her home from an abortion performed there that day. Another Chicago many physician/abortionists, Dr. Emma J. Warren, age 53, was arrested for the death. On July 15, Warren was indicted for felony murder in Emma's death. Warren had already been implicated in the 1917 abortion death of 27-year-old Annie DeGroote.

Shipped Home in a Box, and the Receptionist's Additional Duties

1874: Shipped Home in a Coffin

Josephine "Josie" LeClear, age 24, had been living near St. John's School, a boys' school, in Manlius Village, New York for about two weeks, working in the culinary department. On Saturday, April 15, she went to Norwich but on April 29 "was sent back ... in a coffin and box from there, and accompanying the box was a medical certificate, saying that she died of no contagious disease."

Mrs. Copeland, the school matron, went to Norwich and reported "the situation of the corpse and other things surrounding it" were very suspicious. The coroners of the respective counties worked together to investigate Joesphine's death. 

Josie's body was in terrible shape, with her face and body were badly swollen and discolored, and she was oozing fluid from the mouth. When the doctor performing the autopsy opened her abdomen, a large amount of gas escaped. The intestines appeared normal, but the uterus was enlarged, punctured with a large hole at the top, and necrotic in patches. The cause of death was clearly an abortion.

Josie's brother Albert said that she had left home on a Saturday morning after a visit of about a week, saying that she was going to collect some back pay from a previous employer. He didn't see her again until her body was shipped to him in the box, with all the shipping fees paid but no indication of who had made arrangements for the macabre delivery. Nobody in the family had known, or would have guessed, that Josie was pregnant.

The investigators determined that Josie had taken very ill after her trip to Norwich, and was cared for by Dr. H. M. Smith and several other physicians who determined that she was suffering abortion complications and pressed her to identify the guilty parties. "She persistently refused to make any statement." On being informed that her death was inevitable, she identified her paramour and her abortionist. A friend or acquaintance who had been caring for Josie during her illness had been the one to obtain a coffin and arrange for shipment of her body. 

The doctor was not named in the news coverage, but was identified as "a resident practitioner of Hamilton, Madison County. His reputation is none the best, and he has boasted that he could do these things up very neatly."

1914: Languished for Two Days

On April 29, 1914, 37-year-old homemaker Mary Stepen died at Chicago's Rhodes Avenue Hospital from septicemia and hemorrhage due to an abortion perpetrated by midwife Anna Stanek. Mary, an immigrant from Bohemia, had languished in the hospital for two days before she died. Stanek was indicted on May 15, but the case never went to trial.

1986: Anesthesia by a Recptionist

Twenty-year-old homemaker Gloria Aponte went to National Abortion Federation member Hanan Rotem in Stamford, Connecticut, for a safe and legal abortion on April 29, 1986. A few hours after the abortion, Gloria was declared dead from hemorrhage at a nearby hospital. An investigation by health officials found that Rotem had failed to perform necessary blood tests and had permitted a receptionist with no medical training to administer anesthesia. Rotem had no hospital privileges and no emergency patient transfer agreement in place. For his fatal treatment of Gloria, he was fined a total of $2,000.

Deadly Midwife, Doctor, and Boyfriend

Mother-and-Daughter Midwife Team, Brooklyn, 1880

Mrs. Sophia Berghusen of Brooklyn died on April 28, 1880, under the care of the mother-and-daughter midwife team of Mrs. Mary Kaufmann and Miss Margaret "Maggie" Kaufmann. The coroner concluded that Sophia had died of abortion complications. Sophie had been found moribund at the Kaufmann house. Both the Kaufmann women were arrested and tried but acquitted, though the sources do not say what was lacking in the case against them.

Civil-Rights Activist Turned Abortionist, Chicago, 1973

T.R. Mason Howard

Survivors of Julia Rogers, age 20, alleged that she underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (pictured) at his Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on April 21, 1973. Julia's death certificate states that her death April 28 at Tabernacle Hospital was due to "bronchopneumonia and generalized peritonitis complicating extensive necrotizing endometritis and myometritis with sealed perforation." In other words, she developed pneumonia on top of peritonitis. A hole had been poked in her uterus, causing an infection that made the muscle tissue of her uterus start to rot inside her. Evelyn Dudley and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

A Boyfriend and an Aquarium Tube, California, 19909

"Daisy," age 32, died on or shortly after April 28, 1990 after she let her boyfriend attempt a home abortion in California. Daisy was not a poor, ignorant woman. To the contrary, she was a systems analyst for a defense contractor. Daisy knew that abortion was legal and readily available. She had an appointment to abort her second-trimester pregnancy scheduled for April 30, 1990, at a local abortion clinic. But for some reason, Daisy didn't wait for her appointment. On April 28, she allowed her boyfriend to insert a plastic tube into her uterus in a home-abortion attempt. Daisy died of complications of that abortion.

Deadly Chicago Abortionists of the Early 20th Century

All of today's anniversaries are of women who died in early 20th century Chicago, which was rife with doctors and midwives running lightly veiled abortion practices. 

On April 26, 1908, 32-year-old restaurant cashier Cora Johnson died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by a criminal abortion perpetrated on April 18. Mrs. Dietrich, listed on the death certificate as a midwife, was arrested, but acquitted for reasons not given in the source document.

On April 26, 1914, eighteen-year-old Florence Lindquist died of septic peritonitis in a Chicago home where an abortion had been performed on her. On her deathbed Florence implicated Dr. Arthur F. Schulz, age 36, who lived at the home in question. Schulz was arrested for her death, as was a man named Charles Miller, named by Florence as the father of her baby. Schulz, a 1907 graduate of Dearborn Medical College, was an allopath who had begun practicing in Chicago in October of 1911. Though he was arrested, he was likely not incarcerated for Florence's death, since he was still listed as living in his own household in Chicago in the 1920 U.S. census. He died later that year of pneumonia.

In April of 1920, 26-year-old homemaker Catherine Kasper made a connection to 47-year-old midwife Rose Preib. On April 26, Catherine died at Columbia 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 for reasons not given in the source documents.

On April 26, 1921, 25-year-old Mrs. Dorothy Friedland died at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago after an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.

On April 26, 1926, Mrs. Fern Strecker, age 26, died at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois from an abortion performed in Chicago. The coroner fingered a 55-year-old nurse named Elizabeth Schade, who had been identified as the culprit in the death of Helen Skoza in a 1917 abortion.

Deadly Abortions in Different Circumstances and Centuries

Chicago, 1899: Perpetrator's Profession Unknown

On April 25, 1899, Sarah Messinger, age 30, died in St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed by Marie Kampfer. Sarah died on the day the abortion was performed. Kampfer, whose profession is not listed, was held for $5,000 bond by Coroner's Jury. Most Chicago abortionists of that era were physicians or midwives.

New York City, 1902: Most Likely a Physician

In January of 1902, Abraham Conheim promised marriage to 19-year-old Harriet "Hattie" Larocque, originally of Canton, New York.  According to Hattie's father, Leon, Hattie was the seventh of his nine children, and was "previously chaste and of good reputation." With the promise of marriage, Hattie became sexually involved with Conheim, who had hired her to work for him as a cloak model. 

In April of 1902, about 18 months after moving to New York City, Hattie discovered that she was pregnant. Conheim reneged on his promise of marriage. Instead he and his friend, traveling salesman Leo Asher. There they arranged a criminal abortion for her.

At some point, Hattie was attended by Dr. Mary J. McCleery in the McCleery home. Martha Collier, who was a boarder at the McCleery home, said that Harriet had arrived there on April 9. Dr. McCleery said that she had only given Hattie simple medications.

Hattie took ill after the abortion and was admitted to New York Hospital as "Hattie Bailey," a name she was using while in New York. She was visited at the hospital by the coroner, and again gave her name as Hattie Bailey. She told the coroner conflicting stories. First she said that she was secretly married to Abraham, but later she denied that she was married to anybody. Of Conheim and Asher, Hattie said that "both had wronged her" and that Asher had promised her marriage but had instead sent her to "Dr. McCleery." 

Hattie's mental state deteriorated and she began speaking to Asher as though he was present in the room. She died at the hospital of peritonitis on April 25. 

Hattie's father sued Conheim for seducing and debauching his daughter, impregnating her, and causing her death. There were never any arrests to hold anybody else accountable, largely because Hattie's statements at the hospital were never formally taken down as an ante-mortem statement.

Chicago, 1908: A Midwife's Fatal Work

On Thursday, April 23, 1908, 32-year-old homemaker Annie Johnson was taken by private ambulance to Wesley Hospital in Chicago, suffering form complications of a criminal abortion. She died on Saturday night, April 25. Albert Stevens, age 39, was arrested as an accomplice to the fatal abortion. Mrs. Laura R. Flinn, one of Annie's friends, was held as a witness. Laura, who said that the abortion had been performed over her protests, identified midwife Augusta Heiderich as the abortionist. Heiderich was arrested and held by the grand jury.

Oklahoma City, 1932: A String of Deaths by an Osteopathic Physician

Dr. Richard Thacker

Dr. Richard E. Thacker, an osteopath, maintained an office and operating rooms in the Terminal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He fled the state but was eventually captured and put on trial for the April 25, 1932 death of 17-year-old co-ed Nancy Joe Seay Lee, who had recently entered into a secret marriage with University of Oklahoma football player Frank Lee.

Thacker met Frank some time about noon Saturday, April 23, 1932. Frank brought his wife to the office about 2 o'clock that afternoon. Thacker had asked for $75, but Frank had bargained down to $30. Thacker did not examine Nancy prior to the abortion, and did not ask Frank to leave the room while it was perpetrated.

After the abortion, Frank went back to classes. He was notified that Nancy had taken ill and been taken to Oklahoma City General Hospital. Frank rushed to her side, but she was already dead. She had implicated Thacker before her death.

Nancy was one of a string of abortion deaths attributed to just Thacker and one additional Oklahoma City osteopath, John Eisiminger in the spring of 1932. The others were Geraldine Easley, Ethel Hestland, Isobabell Ferguson, Ruth Hall, Robbie Lou Thompson, Virginia Lee Wyckoff and Lennis May Roach.

Missouri, 1997: A Doctor's Third Patient Death

Robert Crist

Twenty-two-year-old Nichole Williams was the third patient known to have died of safe and legal abortioncomplications under the dubious care of Dr. Robert Crist. The others were Latachie Veal and Diane Boyd. Nichole, a mother of three (ages 7, 3, and 1), lived with her boyfriend and after an abortion at Reproductive Health Services, run by Planned parenthood, in St. Louis, MO. Some of the cost of Nichole's $550 abortion came from a national foundation which Planned Parenthood refused to name.

Crist started the first-trimester abortion at 2:00 on Friday, April 25, 1997, administering lidocaine and vasopressin for a procedure expected to last about five minutes. "Seconds" before finishing the abortion, he noticed that Nichole had breathing problems, finished the abortion, and instructed staff to call 911. RHS staff began resuscitation, but Nichole was in full cardiac arrest when medics arrived fifteen minutes later. Efforts to revive her continued in the ambulance and at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, to no avail, and she was pronounced dead at 3:12 p.m. Nichole's death was officially attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC), a clotting disorder that can be triggered by trauma, illness, or foreign material in the blood stream. 

Reproductive Health Services, a National Abortion Federation member facility, is operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is an organization of abortion facilities and practitioners, and promises that its members adhere to the highest standards of care. This claim seems remarkable when one considers that Dr. Abu "The Butcher of Avenue A" Hayat was an active NAF member when he performed the abortions that killed Sophie McCoy and maimed Ana Rodriguez. Other dubious NAF members include Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a clinic chain with at least sixteen dead abortion patients to its discredit, and Abraham Alberto Hodari, whose Detroit clinic is responsible for at least three abortion deaths including an illegal third-trimester abortion on an underage girl at the behest of her abuser's sister. 

Three Different Kinds of Abortion Perpetrators

Chicago, 1920: And Unknown Perpetrator

On April 24, 1920, Emma Shanahan died at Chicago's St. Anthony Hospital (pictured) from an abortion perpetrated by a person who was not identified. Most abortionists in Chicago in that era were doctors or midwives, which makes it likely that Emma availed herself of one of these trained medical professionals. Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future, which made all surgery at that time far more dangerous than it was after WWII. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.

Oklahoma, 1932: A Doctor's Trail of Death

Virginia Lee Wyckoff, a University of Oklahoma student, age 21, died from complications of an abortion on April 24, 1932 Hers was one of a string of deaths in the city that year. Dr. J.W. Eisiminger, an osteopath, was tried and convicted of murder in Virginia's death. 

Eisiminger

Eisiminger admitted to having treated her in his office on April 3, but said that he didn't believe she was pregnant. Nevertheless, Virginia spent several days in a private home where Eisiminger kept recovering abortion patients under the care of Mrs. Luther Bryant Price. Virginia was transferred from Mrs. Prices's home to Oklahoma City General Hospital, where she died of septicemia, first having told doctors there that Eisiminger had performed the fatal abortion.. A deathbed statement absolving Eisiminger was proven to be a forgery.

Eisiminger was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in her abortion death. The sentence was later reduced to 15 years. He was also implicated in the abortion deaths of Isobel Ferguson, Lennis May Roach, and Ruth Hall in April of 1932.

Oklahoma, 1937: A Midwife's Fatal Work

Merl Williams

On April 24, 1937, Merl Williams of Watonga, Oklahoma, died of peritonitis. She was 21 years old, a worker in a poultry packing plant. Her death was attributed to a botched abortion. A midwife, 57-year-old. Cordelia Moore, was charged with abortion murder. An investigation found evidence that Moore, formerly a registered nurse, had perpetrated hundreds of abortions in her home in Longdale, Oklahoma.

W. C. Mouse, a railroad engineer, testified that he had taken Merl to Moore's 3-room farm house on April 11, not knowing the reason for the visit. He said only that he had heard Merl ask Moore, "Will it be dangerous?" The state also gathered 14 additional witnesses in the case against Moore, including women swearing under oath that Moore had done abortions on them. 

Cordelia Moore was tried for the crime; her husband, John, was arrested but released. I have been unable to determine that outcome of Moore's trial.

Two Typical Chicago Abortion Deaths

On Thursday, April 23, 1908, 32-year-old homemaker Annie Johnson was taken by private ambulance to Wesley Hospital in Chicago, suffering form complications of a criminal abortion. She died on Saturday night, April 25.  Albert Stevens, age 39, was arrested as an accomplice to the fatal abortion. Mrs. Laura R. Flinn, one of Annie's friends, was held as a witness. Laura, who said that the abortion had been performed over her protests, identified midwife Augusta Heiderich as the abortionist. Heiderich was arrested and held by the grand jury.

On April 23, 1920, 30-year-old homemaker Violet McCormick died at the practice of an abortionist named Achtenberg, leaving behind three children.  From information about other Chicago area abortion deaths, we can gather that the abortionist in question was Dr. Louise Achtenberg, who had already been implicated in the abortion deaths of Dora Swan in 1907 and Florence Wright in 1909.  After Violet's death, Achtenberg was held by the coroner and tried, but acquitted, freeing her to cause the 1924 death of Madelyn Anderson.

Three Abortion Deaths from Early 20th Century Chicago

Many physicians and midwives plied their trade as abortionists in early 20th century Chicago. The women whose deaths we commemorate today all had entrusted themselves to the care of those professionals operating outside the law.

"Phyllis" was 46 years old when she had an abortion performed by a physician in Chicago on or around April 4, 1910. The abortion was followed by pain, fever, and hemorrhage. On April 18, about two weeks after the abortion, she was admitted to Cook County Hospital. She was in a stupor, with her tongue dry and furred. Her abdomen was distended and tender. Her liver was enlarged. The lower lobe of her right lung had sounds indicating the presence of fluid. That evening, Phyllis became delirious and had to be restrained to her bed. She died on April 22 from peritonitis and septic pneumonia.

On February 19, 1920, midwife Mary Simkus, perpetrated an abortion on 28-year-old homemaker Sophia Krawczyk in the Krawczyk home. After the abortion, Sophie took ill. Eventually she was taken to Cook County Hospital, where she died from sepsis on April 22. Simka was indicted for Sophie's death, but for reasons I have been unable to determine the case never went to trial.

On April 22, 1923, 30-year-old Daisy Singerland died at Chicago's Robert Burns Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed earlier that day. On June 1, 54-year-old Dr. James W. Lipscomb was indicted for felony murder in Daisy's death.

Doctors, Midwives, and Death

1898: A Doctor's Work in Peoria

Hughretta "Etta" Binkley was an unmarried woman about 27 years old who worked as a private stenographer for Fred Patee at a bicycle company that he managed. She lived in a boardinghouse owned by George H. Lilly, where she shared a room with Lilly's daughter.

At lunchtime on April 1, 1898, accompanied by Patee, Etta went to the residence/office of Dr. Belle Howard, about four blocks from the boarding house. After work the following day, at about 6:30 PM, she returned to Dr. Howard's house and was sent to a room on the second floor. Howard attended her often, as Etta suffered from pain and bleeding. 

On the evening of Saturday, April 9, that Belle Howard drove Etta in her buggy back to the boarding house, where she left her alone on the porch. Mr. Lilly found her there as he was locking up for the night. He described her as being in "a very helpless and distressed condition." Lilly's daughter helped Etta into bed.

The following morning, at about 9:00, Etta somehow managed to trudge to the nearby Cottage Hospital, where she was immediately admitted. Staff physician Otho B. Will was immediately summoned to care for her. Dr. Will found Etta to be so sick that he later expressed astonishment that she had been able to walk to the hospital at all. He examined her and performed surgery to remove decaying and fetid retained portions of placenta. 

Etta remained hospitalized under Dr. Will's care until April 19, when she died of septicemia. Howard and her husband fled to Oregon, where they were eventually captured and extradited. Dr. Howard was convicted of manslaughter in Etta's death and sentenced to seven years in prison. She only served 15 months before being released on parole.

1939: Two Midwives in Long Beach, NY

In April of 1939, 27-year-old Mary Narusavage of Long Beach, New York got a phone number from a friend.  It was contact information for two midwives, Josephine Williams and her daughter-in-law, 33-year-old Adele Sassen. On April 13, Mary and her husband, 28-year-old Joe, went to the Williams home and were greeted at the door by Sassen. Joe, a waiter, had expected the abortion fee to be $35, so he had brought that amount with him. Sassen said that actually the fee would be $45, but Joe could pay the additional $10 later.

Sassen took Mary through a pair of double doors into a windowless dining room with a bed and a sink in it. Joe waited for about seven or eight minutes. Saussen came out and told Joe, "Everything is OK. Your wife will be all right. Everything is fine." She sent Mary home with three pills, and told the couple to call her if there were any problems.
Over the next few days, Mary suffered bleeding and pain. Williams and Saussen visited her at her home twice, on one occasion using a curette and performing a douche with a bit of Lysol in water. On the other occasion, Williams was in another room with Mary, so Joe didn't know what she did to his wife. By this time, Mary had a copious, foul-smelling discharge. 

On April 18, Joe was so alarmed at Mary's condition that he called Dr. David Schiff. Describing the visit, he said, "I was struck by the appearance of the very toxic, pale, white ghostly like woman who was in agony." Upon examining Mary, Schiff concluded that she had peritonitis, so he immediately called an ambulance to take her to Long Beach Hospital, where he cared for her, assisted by intern Henry Miller.

In spite of their efforts, she died at around 10:00 p.m. on April 19. She had a large tear in her uterus, large quantities of pus in her pelvic cavity, and clots and pus in her uterus. She had died from septicemia. The doctor who performed the autopsy estimated that the infection had started between four days and two weeks prior to Mary's death.

The following day, at around 5:20 a.m., police raided Williams' home, where they found abortion instruments wrapped in a wet towel and hidden in a satchel inside a closet. Williams begged the police detective not to take the instruments, to forget he had ever seen them, and even tried to thrust a wad of cash into his hands. 

On March 20, 1940, Williams and Sassen were both convicted of first-degree manslaughter and abortion, and was sentenced to two to four years.

1977: A Hospital Abortion in San Jose, California

Mary Paredez, an immigrant, was 26 years old when she underwent an abortion at San Jose Hospital on April 19, 1977. During the procedure, Mary's uterus was perforated. She began to hemorrhage. Less than seven hours later, she was dead. The autopsy found 2500 cc of blood in Mary's abdomen.