RealChoice

Thursday, October 15, 2026

October 15, 1915: A Doctor's Fatal Efforts in Oregon

SUMMARY: Anna Anderson, age 25, died October 15, 1915 after an illegal abortion performed in Oregon by Dr. Andre August Ausplund.

Dr. Andrew August Ausplund was a Swedish immigrant. He had come to the United States around the 1890s, when roughly in his 20s. He got his medical degree from the University of Minnesota around 1898 and began practicing in Portland, Oregon around the mid-1890s.

He made a bit of a splash in August of 1893 when he challenged another doctor to a duel and was originally expected to die from his injuries, and was prosecuted for federal mail crime for sending materials considered "indecent" at the time -- likely information about birth control or abortion. The fact that his ads indicated "a specialty of surgery and diseases of women" indicated a veiled willingness to commit abortions.

The Investigation Begins

At around 3:00 on the afternoon of Friday, October 15, 1915, a patrolman was told that the body of a woman was being taken from Dr. A. A. Ausplund's office in the Lafayette Building at Sixth and Washington Streets. The patrolman went to the site and found Ausplund leaving the building with Deputy Coroner Smith. Ausplund told the patrolman that he was going to the morgue for the autopsy, but the patrolman detained him while a detective went into the office to collect evidence, including gynecological instruments, a bottle of chloroform, cotton pads soaked with chloroform, a blood-spotted sheet, and Ausplund's blood-spotted coat. The operating table appeared to have been recently cleaned.

Ausplund said that the young woman had come to his office some time around October 12, asking him to perform an abortion. He said that he had turned her away but she had returned on the 15th, saying that she had tried to perform the abortion on herself and asked him to help her because this abortion attempt had left her ailing. However, Ausplund said, the young woman died on the table before he could even complete an examination.

Ausplund and his brother, who was a dentist, shared a reception room. The receptionist, Birdie Welsh, gold police that she had no idea who the young woman was but she had indeed come to the office around the 12th and again on the 15th.

The woman's body was taken to the morgue. Police struggled to identify the woman. She was about 25 years older or slightly older, dressed in a blue coat, dark skirt, and green silk petticoat. She had black hair and weighed about 145 pounds. There was nothing in her handbag to identify, her, and no markings on her handkerchief or clothing. However, the young woman had quite a bit of distinctive dental work done -- a full upper plate and several gold teeth in her lower jaw. She had a gold watch and $53.75 in gold and silver coin in her purse. That's just short of $1,725 in 2025.

An autopsy showed that the woman had been healthy. Her heart had been normal. The cause of death was an induced abortion.

The Woman Identified

Paul Wesinger, an employee of Portland Railway, Light & Power, was friends with Fred H. Green, identified in the news as a Portland "timberman." Fred H. Green had hired a young Swedish girl about a year earlier to work as a domestic servant. During his visits to Green's house, Paul frequently saw the young woman. Likely Paul read about the unidentified dead woman in the newspaper, for he went to the morgue and identified the dead woman as Green's servant, 27-year-old Anna Anderson. Before leaving the house the day of her death, she had told other servants that she was feeling ill and was anemic.

Anna's Decision

Anna had come to the United States around 1912, leaving her parents behind. At first she lived with her uncle, Andrew Bachstrom, but she moved into Green's home after securing employment with him.

After realizing that she was pregnant that fall of 1915, Anna wrote letters to her fiancé, Alfred Lindbloom, who was living in a logging camp. Since Green was a "lumberman," it's likely that he either employed or knew Alfred, and that was how the young couple met.

Alfred destroyed the letters to keep the other men from reading them and learning about Anna's predicament. What Alfred wrote in response to those letters didn't make it into the newspapers.

Whatever Albert proposed about baby, Anna went to a doctor who confirmed that she was about three months pregnant. She asked this doctor to abort her baby, but the doctor refused.

Evidently Anna decided that she would not be deterred. On October 15, 1915, she went to the office of Dr. Andre A. Ausplund in Portland.

Ausplund's Story

Dr. Ausplund later said that Anna was ill upon her arrival at his office, and asked him to examine her. He attempted to do so, but she gasped in pain as soon as he'd inserted his fingers. He said he immediately saw that she was dying and went out for a stimulant, seeking help from Dr. Mary A MacLachlan, a physician practicing in the same building. They brought in another doctor, Otis F. Akin, to try to help. The three doctors together were unable to revive Anna.

The coroner and other witnessed testified that Anna was found with her skirts removed. They found a bloody sheet in Dr. Ausplund's office, as well as a bloody doctor's coat. Several medical instruments were noted, one of which appeared to have a portion of placenta on it. The floor in his operating room was wet, as well as a Kelly pad.

The autopsy found signs of recent pregnancy of about three months duration, as well as trauma to the interior of the uterus. It was estimated that the injuries were sustained about five to eight hours before death. The undertaker who embalmed Anna said that there was almost no blood in her body.

Ausplund was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was reduced to manslaughter. He would face a sentence of between 1 and 15 years.

Ausplund was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to the indeterminate 1 to 15 years prison plus a $50 fine. Nine of the jurors filed an affidavit with the County Clerk saying that they had only voted to convict because they believed he would only be paroled, not incarcerated. He remained free on $3,500 cash bond so he could appeal the verdict on various technical grounds. He seemed to be stressed out during his appeal process -- he was arrested and fined $5 (about $160 in 2025) in early March of 1917 for blocking traffic and drunkenly speaking out against the war and mouthing off to city officials.

Ausplund's appeal went the whole way to the U.S. Supreme court, but his conviction was upheld. He finally was incarcerated on March 18, 1921. Ausplund was paroled by Acting Governor Roy W. Ritner on January 21, 1922 on the condition that he return to his native Sweden under a $1,500 bond (nearly $50,000 in 2025). Nevertheless, he returned to Portland, where he owned quite a bit of valuable real estate, around Christmas of 1922 and resumed his practice. His full rights of citizenship were restored on the grounds that he remain law-abiding.

Dr. Ausplund actually redeemed himself. He died a hero in August of 1932, when he drowned trying to rescue his 20-year-old niece, Normal Saxwick, from the Columbia River.

Sources:

"Doctors Fight a Duel," The Dalles (Oregon) Weekly Chronicle, August 21, 1895
"Unidentified Girl is Surgical Victim," The Morning Oregonian, October 16, 1915
"Evans Investigates Girl's Sudden Death in Doctor's Office," (Portland) Oregon Daily Journal, October 16, 1915
Death certificate
"Girl's Friend Testifies," The Morning Oregonian, October 19, 1915
"Ausplund Parole Asked," The Morning Oregonian, January 12, 1916
"Dr. to Prison," The (Astoria, OR) Morning Astorian, January 13, 1916
"Dr. Ausplund Arrested," The Morning Oregonian, March 5, 1917
"Dr. Ausplund Fined," The Morning Oregonian, March 7, 1917
86 Or. 121, 167 P. 1019; Supreme Court of Oregon. STATE v. AUSPLUND. Oct. 16, 1917. Department 1. Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County; John P. Kavanaugh, Judge
"Dr. Ausplund in Prison," The Morning Oregonian, March 24, 1921
"Ausplund Given Full Privileges of Citizenship," The (Salem, OR) Capital Journal, March 22, 1923
"Ausplund Parton is Ritner's Latest," The Morning Oregonian, March 22, 1923
"Ausplund's Ticket Seems in Danger," The (Salem, OR) Capital Journal, June 5, 1930
"Dr. A. A. Ausplund Dies Heroically," The (Salem, OR) Capital Journal, August 6, 1932
Grok AI summary, November 14, 1925

-------------------------------

Veteran pro-life investigator Kevin Sherlock asks people of good will to help him have Planned Parenthood prosecuted for profiteering from the rapes and incests of underage girls many thousands of times each year.

Sherlock has pulled the police records of hundreds of cities and has pulled the child protective services records of multiple states to prove Planned Parenthood staffers are violating mandated reporting laws designed to protect girl victims. But there is more to be done. Sherlock will make sure more and more evidence gets to federal and state prosecutors who care about protecting girls from abusers and profiteers.

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Sherlock has talked to many girls and young women who trust him. Their stories and the forensic evidence shows most of them undergo pill abortions or humiliating invasive surgical abortions due to fear or ignorance or pressure or coercion. He treats the girls or women carrying children or devastated from their abortions as friends and neighbors in his home town, not afterthoughts.

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 15, 1992: Post-Abortion Suicide

A woman I used to picket with in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, told me of a day she was outside one of Harrisburg's two safe and legal abortion facilities. The clinic was set back from the street by an expanse of lawn, with a parking lot to the side and back. Sidewalk counselors would stand in the alley, where they could call to the women as they got out of their cars. The picketers would stand on the sidewalk in front, where patients could see their signs from the waiting room.

The woman saw a middle-aged couple get out of a car. They opened the back door and pulled out a teenage girl who appeared to be Filipino. The girl was crying. The sidewalk counselors called out to her, and she tried to move toward them, the picketer said, but the middle-aged white couple took the girl by the arms and led her toward the front of the building. The picketer called out to the clinic escort. "Can't you see she doesn't want to do this? I can't step on your property, but you can help her. You're pro-choice, right? Can't you help her?" According to the picketer, the escort smirked at her, then held the facility door open, to make it easier for the couple to propel the girl into the clinic.

The next time she saw that girl's face, the picketer told me, was on the news. It was October of 1992, and the news story was about the suicide of 19-year-old Arlin Della Cruz.

Arlin was a senior in high school when she learned that she was pregnant. A friend recalled that Arlin wanted to have her baby but agreed to an abortion to try to salvage her relationship with her boyfriend. She had disappeared from her home. A search found her hanging from a tree in a nearby woods on October 15. "Under her shirt, the coroner found Arlin's favorite stuffed animal -- a rabbit." Arlin's mother said that Arlin had left a suicide note saying that she wanted to go be with her baby.

One of Arlin's friends reported that Arlin wanted the baby, but chose abortion to try to salvage her relationship with her boyfriend. If the picketer's observations are correct, Arlin had serious second thoughts the day of the abortion.

The condition of Hillcrest likely did little to help Arlin cope. A later Google reviewser of the clinic, Hillcrest Women's Medical Center, said:

"This place will not give you the information you need before having an abortion. Their "counseling" consists of a doctor who can barely speak English describing what will happen. The staff is friendly but very un knowledgeable. They do not do follow up with their patients, leading to many emotional difficulties after. They even will accept clients who are pushed through the doors by a man, crying... and take her through the process. I do not recommend this place to any woman looking to have an abortion. The experience was traumatizing."

Other patients reported bad experiences:

I highly do not recommend this place . It reminded me of a animal clinic , it even smelled like one. ....The " nurses & doctors " or whatever you would like to call them were in professional . Honestly I would never call them nurses. Especially the doctor all he was after was money & hurrying so other girls could come right in & get there's done also. .... Once you are in that room it is something you will never forget. As you lay on the table.... You see all the other girls dead babies blood seeping through the blue cloth that they put them on. The doctor doesn't speak one word to you he just goes and does what he has to do. .... The doctor left after he did what he had to do and as I was laying on the table, the nurse cleaned up & the doctor came in several times asking her if she was done yet he had other patients . Nobody had any sympathy there. .... They just wanted your money. ...."

THE WORST medical experience of my LIFE. DO NOT SUPPORT this clinic! The nurses were rude and uncaring. The doctor, if that's what you even want to call him, was unprofessional and rushed for time. He showed no compassion for the patients. All he was concerned with was his turnover rate and when he was getting out. "Quickly! Quickly I have places to be after this, I don't have time for this" he shouted to the nurses to get the girls in and out as fast as possible. .... The whole staff seamed so unorganized and out of the loop. No one knew what was going on. .... The facility is dirty and beyond it's time. It felt like I was sitting in an old dusty school. The sink in the ultra sound room looked like there had been blood or fluids splattered on it and then barely wiped clean. The equipment and instruments look old and outdated. The moment you walk in it looks and feels unprofessional. I felt uneasy the whole time I was in there but I kept telling myself it will be okay this must be how all abortion clinics are(since this was my first experience ever in one). .... "

"This place is awful. Absolutely no compassion for the patients. Staff was rude and was talking about each and every woman that was there after they went back. Absolutely nasty old women. During counseling they rolled their eyes at every question I had asked. Doctor didn't speak English well and just an overall terrible place. I saw everything. The doctor laid out what was removed on a table In front of my poking at it... I am mortified and I will never get the images out oft head."

Hillcrest is also the abortion clinic where Kelly Morse died of an allergic reaction to a local anesthetic.

Sources:

Christian Broadcasting Network, "Pennsylvania Abortion / Suicide," Air date November 6, 1992
"Officials seek cause of woman's death," (Harrisburg, PA) Patriot, October 19, 1992

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 15, 2005: Post-Abortion Overdose Aboard Cruise Ship

As she approached her 25th birthday, Lila Ashley Barnett, who went by her middle name, seemed have everything going for her.

Living the Dream

Ashley Barnett

Though Ashley's parents were divorced, both Bill and Jamie were devoted to her and her three brothers. Ashley also had two half sisters and two step brothers. Ashley's mother told CBS News that whether related by blood or marriage, the siblings were close and supportive of one another.

Ashley had been born in Greenville, Texas, to a theater family. Her first stage presence was as an infant in her parents' production of The Miracle Worker.

Though born in Texas, Ashley grew up in Burbank. She graduated from Burbank High School in 1999. Her mother worked in the grip department of CBS Television Studios. Ashley joined the Screen Actors Guild and played small roles in "Passions," "Family Affair," and "Will and Grace." Ashley began working at CBS Studios, at first in the mailroom and then as a production assistant on "Will and Grace."

While Ashley was working at CBS, film composer John Debney, who had written scores to "The Princess Diaries" and "Bruce Almighty," among other films, noticed the vibrant young woman. "She had star written all over her," Debney told CBS News. "Not only was she beautiful, but she had such heart and soul." He hired her as his music coordinator.

Ashley's career was on the rise.

Ashley and Geoff

Ashley had known Geoff Ginsburg since they were in 9th grade. By the time they were in their early 20s, they had become a couple.

It seems an odd pairing. Ashley was working in Hollywood production and Geoff was an electrician. But an even bigger mismatch was their attitude towards drugs.

Ashley was firmly anti-drug to the point, her mother said, that she annoyed people with an anti-drug rap song she had written. Jamie said that one of her friends said that if others in a room started to "party," Ashley would leave the room rather than remain someplace where drugs were being used.

Geoff, on the other hand, was a recovering Vicodin addict.

Ashley's friend Allie Tweast told CBS News that Ashley thought she could rescue Geoff from his addiction, "that her love could somehow wake him up."

She was wrong.

The Cruise

On October 14, 2005, Ashley and Geoff boarded the Carnival cruise ship "Paradise" in Long Beach, along with two other couples. The three-day cruise was to celebrate Ashley's 25th birthday, which was coming up on October 21.

DayQuil capsules vs. methadone tablets

Geoff, whose had evidently fallen off the wagon, brought both Vicodin and methadone onto the ship with him, with the latter poured into a DayQuil bottle. (Some coverage said that he had methadone pills in a DayQuil bottle, but this is highly unlikely. DayQuil capsules come in blister packs in a box, not in a bottle, and methadone tablets do not in any way resemble DayQuil capsules.)

That first night at sea, Geoff and Ashley went to a concert and a casino. Joe Fischera, one of the friends who had boarded with Geoff and Ashley, said, "To me it was like a big rave at sea. Just people dancing and everyone just having such a good time, you know. You know drinkin' and partyin'. This is gonna be a real cool time."

Ashley, who reportedly was not the type to enjoy a rave, probably did not find this very much to her liking.

Geoff and Ashley returned to their cabin but, according to Geoff, had an argument. He left at around 2:30 am, Ashley stayed. When he returned at around 4 am, he found Ashley asleep and curled up with her.

Next day slipped out without waking her to join their friends. Joe said that Geoff told them, "My baby doll's still snoring. Let's let her sleep a little bit longer, and we'll wake her up in a little bit."

The Dreadful Discovery

Some time between 1:45 and 2:00 pm, Geoff said, he returned to the cabin and spoke to Ashley, telling her it was time to get up. She didn't respond to his voice.

"I kind of touched her on the face and I was like, you know, baby, baby, what's going on , you know. And her eyes were shut and I was kind of like trying to open her eyes a little bit and she wasn't responding. And I just started freaking out."

Geoff ran into the hallway screaming for help. Another passenger, who was a volunteer firefighter, heard him and rushed to help. The firefighter started CPR and told Geoff to call 911. It was 2:07 when he made the call, saying, "My girlfriend's not breathing. I don't think she's breathing. Please come help."

Within three minutes the nurse arrived, assisted with CPR, and sent out an emergency announcement to summon the ship's doctor. He arrived at 2:12 pm to find Ashley unresponsive, cold, and pulseless.

Geoff said that he told the nurse and doctor that 5 of his Vicodin were missing, as was the methadone, but they didn't administer any drugs to counteract the likely overdose. They couldn't have, even if they had wanted to, because there was none aboard the ship.

None of the coverage indicates at what point Geoff noticed that his Vicodin and methadone were missing. They just note Geoff's assertion that he told the doctor and nurse as they were working on Ashley.

She was pronounced dead at 2:45 pm.

Immediate Aftermath

Ashley's body was taken to morgue in Ensenada, Mexico. Mexican authorities come aboard ship and questioned Geoff. They also notified the FBI. After concluding that no crime had taken place, Mexican authorities instructed Geoff and his friends to return to the US aboard the ship so they could be questioned by US authorities.

Meanwhile Ashley's body was kept there in the Ensenada morgue.

It wasn't until around 6 pm the evening of October 15 that Ashley's mother got a phone call from the cruise ship nurse. "I'm terribly, terribly sorry to tell you your daughter passes away today."

Jamie at first couldn't believe what she was hearing. She later recalled telling the nurse, "No, she didn't. No, she didn't. This is a joke. This is very cruel."

Once the truth started to sink in, Jamie asked what had happened. She was told, "We don't know. That's being investigated right now."

Jamie asked to speak to Geoff, but was told that he was being questioned. She wasn't going to get any answers that night. Nor was she to get any clarity over the following decades.

Finally Speaking With Geoff

Geoff didn't reach out to Jamie until the following day. He said he had waited so long to call because "I didn't know what to say. I was just like in a comatose, kinda just in a state of shock. How do you make that call? What do you say? You know? I'd never been in that situation before. I didn't not know how to handle it."

Jamie told CBS News, "The conversation was very short because the people in the room with him took the phone away from him, because he was so upset. He just said, 'I don't know what happened,' And I said, 'You know, Geoff, you have to know what happened. You were there with her.' And he said, 'Jamie, I have no idea. She went to sleep and that's all I know. The only thing I know is some of my methadone and some of my Vicodin was missing.'"

Jamie learned that the purpose of the cruise had not just been to celebrate Ashley's birthday. Geoff had planned to detox off the Vicodin during those three days. That's why he had somehow illegally obtained the methadone.

Cause of Death

An autopsy performed in Mexico concluded that the cause of death was methadone toxicity.

It took Ashley's family five days to get their daughter's body returned to the states after a mandatory pre-transit embalming. Ashley's family hired a pathologist to do another autopsy including a hair analysis to see if Ashley had begun abusing drugs. Ashley's organs were healthy. there were no signs of trauma. The hair tests came back clean. The only risky substances in Ashley's body were alcohol consistent with drinking the night before, and the drugs that had killed her.

So the mystery is not the cause of death itself. The question is why Ashley consumed enough of Geoff's methadone to end up dead.

The Accidental Overdose Theory

Ashley's mother steadfastly holds that her anti-drug daughter wouldn't have knowingly ingested methadone. Ashley had told a friend before boarding the cruise ship that she was feeling unwell, so perhaps she reached for the DayQuil bottle and took a dose, thinking it was cold medicine.

Geoff disputes this theory. He told investigators and reporters that he poured the methadone into the DayQuil bottle in front of Ashley and warned her not to take it. Could Ashley have forgotten and mistakenly dosed herself with methadone out of the DayQuil bottle? It seems unlikely that a vehemently anti-drug woman would have forgotten that the DayQuil bottle actually contained methadone. Ashley would only have taken the methadone if she hadn't known that Geoff had put in in the DayQuil bottle.

None of the coverage I've seen explores this in depth. Liquid methadone can be clear or dyed in a variety of colors, including orange. Geoff might well have selected a DayQuil bottle because his methadone was orange and thus was likely to be mistaken for methadone by anybody searching his luggage. Methadone and DayQuil also both have a medicinal taste, so this wouldn't have tipped Ashley off that what she was taking was a dangerous narcotic, not a benign cold medication.

I have also never seen any information about whether there were other cold medicines in the cabin. DayQuil is an unlikely choice for somebody about to go to bed after a long day, but the DayQuil bottle might have been the only thing in the room that looked like a cold remedy.

I also haven't found any indication of how much of the liquid Ashley consumed. Did she measure out a dose in the little cup or chug the whole bottle?

The Attention-Seeking Theory

Another theory is that because Ashley and Geoff had argued, she might have taken some of his methadone intending to become ill and gain his attention. This seems the least likely scenario for a young woman who was vehemently opposed to drugs.

The Suicide Theory

The third scenario, and the one I consider highly likely, it that Ashley took the drugs deliberately to end her life.

Ashley's family insisted that she wouldn't have killed herself, especially not with a drug overdose, because she as happy and had a lot to look forward to. But one factor indicates that the overdose might have been deliberate: Ashley had undergone an abortion three weeks before the cruise and Jamie admitted that Ashley had been depressed about it. "She was upset over having to make that kind of decision. And I won't deny that. She did not take it lightly. But it was the appropriate amount of sadness."

What is "the appropriate amount of sadness?" A lot of women are blindsided by how devastated they are after their abortions.

So imagine it: Ashley, according to her mother, had an appointment with another agency to represent her in her acting career. But if she was depressed about an abortion, feeling as if she had killed her baby, would that cheer her up or would it make her feel like it simply wasn't worth it? Then she gets on a cruise ship with he boyfriend -- presumably the baby's father -- only to find out that he is not, as she had thought, a recovering addict but one who had fallen off the wagon and had actually snuck drugs onto the ship and into their cabin. The cruise turns out to be, as her friend described it, "a big rave at sea." That's the opposite of what her mother and friends say Ashley would have considered a good time. Her boyfriend decides to return to that rave rather than stay in the cabin with her and get some sleep. She doesn't even still have a relationship worth keeping.

This theory seems to hold as much water as the accidental overdose theory. It all hinges on whether Ashley knew what was in the DayQuil bottle or not and whether she only consumed what would have been a dose of DayQuil or had downed the whole bottle.

Moving Forward

Jamie's focus shifted from trying to figure out why Ashley consumed the methadone to the poor medical care aboard the ship. There were few defibrillators. There was no Narcan or similar drug to treat an overdose. The investigation into Ashley's death seems perfunctory -- especially over 20 years on, when there are still no answers. So Jamie joined the lobbying group International Cruise Victims, to develop stricter laws to address crimes and deaths aboard cruise ships.

Jamie also filed a wrongful death suit against Carnival Corporation, alleging negligence and a violation of the Death on the High Seas Act. She also faulted the doctor and nurse. The case against the doctor was dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. The case against Carnival was also dismissed but I do not have access to documents to explain the reason for the ruling. The court did grant that Jamie may file the suit again on different grounds.

HT: killed-by-choice

Sources:

Lila Ashley Barnett obituary
"Beauty Dies Mysteriously On Cruise," CBS News The Early Show, April 5, 2006
"Dark Voyage: Ashley's Tale," CBS News 48 Hours, September 21, 2006
"Death on Ship Prompts Lawsuit," Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2006
"Ship Riddle," The Sun, July 28, 2024
"Mum still looking for answers after daughter died on cruise while celebrating 25th birthday," LAD Bible, July 29, 2024
"Ashley Barnett: What Happened to Her? How Did She Die?" Moviedelic, July 15, 2025

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 15, 1990: Cheaper Abortion, Malpractice, and Death

On October 15, 1990, 23-year-old Angela Satterfield underwent a legal abortion at Statewide Clinic on 2617 E. 21st St. in Tulsa. Angela and her husband, Timothy Lee Satterfield, had a 15-month-old daughter at home. Angela was a homemaker.

Angela's brother, Robert Wanner, said that Angela's doctor had recommended by the abortion for unspecified health reasons. Angela had gone to Statewide Clinic instead of to her own ob/gyn because her doctor charged $1,500 for an abortion, while abortions at Statewide ranged from $250 to $325, depending on whether she was less than 12 weeks pregnant or between 12 and 14 weeks.

It's impossible to know if Angela or her husband had known that Statewide had already been sued for the death three years earlier of 24-year-old Patricia King.

Dr. Jimmie C. Toney did not verify that the fetus was actually in his patient's uterus. He simply performed an abortion procedure and sent her home.

Grok AI illustration

Later that same day, the undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy ruptured. Angela was found dead in her home at around 4:40 pm. She had bled to death internally.

Her death certificate only mentions the ectopic pregnancy and the hemorrhage, but her autopsy notes the failure of the abortionist to diagnose the ectopic pregnancy.

The police, who clearly didn't understand that part of responsible abortion practice is making sure the fetus is in the uterus before proceeding, and decided that there was "no reason to suspect" that the abortion contributed to Angela's death.

Timothy Satterfield, however, contacted an attorney about pursuing a lawsuit. And he had good grounds. Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they're actually //more// likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners. But since Toney himself didn't outlive Angela by that long -- public records indicate that he died in January of 1996 -- a lawsuit might well have become pointless because of difficulties in pursuing the case.

Sources:

Oklahoma Eastern Division, Autopsy Report No. T-332-90
State of Oklahoma Certificate of Death No. 23934
"Woman died after tube ruptured - Abortion not cited as cause," Tulsa World, November 8, 1990.

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 15, 1854: Oil of Tansy in New York

SUMMARY Mary Stone, age 26, died on October 15, 1854 in New Haven, Connecticut after taking an abortifacient.

Mary L. Stone, a 26-year-old native of England, was living in New York City with her husband, George, in 1854. Some time in late August, she left her husband and went to live with William Mills in New Haven, Connecticut. White at Mills' home, Mary took oil of tansey as an abortifacient. She stated that she had done this at the recommendation of Mrs. Britton, who denied the charge.

After taking the oil of tansey, Mary became very ill. About five weeks later, she returned to New York, going to stay with a friend. She sent for her husband. After seeing his wife's condition, Mr. Stone had her taken to New York Hospital. There, she died the night of Sunday, October 15. Her death was attributed to "exhaustion produced by abortion."

I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.

Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.

Sources: "Death Caused by Abortion", Brooklyn Eagle, Oct. 17, 1854

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 15, 1926: Chicago Doctor Admits to Fatal Abortion

On October 15, 1926, 23-year-old homemaker Ethel Horner, a Chicago native, died at Chicago’s Jackson Park Hospital from an abortion performed earlier that day.

Theresa Feltz, a mother of five, admitted that she had taken Ethel to the Chicago office of 55-year-old Dr. Albert Peacock of 1442 East 55th Street, who was arrested the following day. On November 15, 1926, he was indicted for felony murder.

Peacock, who told police, “I’m too old to go through with a trial,” when they arrested him, admitted to the abortion but insisted that it had been medically necessary. He was kept under close watch after making remarks indicating that he might kill himself.

Ethel’s husband, Robert Horner, said that he’d been unaware that his wife was arranging an abortion.

I've been unable to learn anything of the outcome of the case. However, Peacock shows up in the 1930 federal census as living in Chicago with his wife, two of his grown stepchildren, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren. This would indicate that if he was prosecuted, he was not convicted.

Ethel’s abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.

Watch Was the Deadly Abortion Legal? on YouTube.

Sources:

Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
“Physician Held in Death of Woman After Operation,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 17, 1926

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

October 14, 1908: Mystery Death in Chicago

On October 14, 1908, Olga Anderson, age 23, died in Chicago from complications of an abortion.
There is no record of who was the guilty party, though he or she was most likely a physician.

Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

October 13, 1971: Referral for Safe and Legal Death

Middletown Hospital

"Tammy,"* a 33-year-old divorcee of Middletown, Ohio, consulted a local doctor about arranging an abortion. That doctor referred her to a facility in New York, where abortion-on-demand had been legalized a little more than a year earlier.

Tammy made the trip and her abortion was performed on September 25, 1971.

Tammy returned to Middletown on October 1 and was soon admitted to Middletown Hospital. She was treated in vain for the sepsis that finally ended her life on October 13, 1971.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union.

In addition to "Tammy," these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

Pearl Schwier, July, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
Carmen Rodriguez, July, 1970, salt solution intended to kill the fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
Barbara Riley, July, 1970, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease
"Amanda" Roe, September, 1970, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus
Maria Ortega, October, 1970, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there
"Kimberly" Roe, December, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
"Amy" Roe, January, 1971, massive pulmonary embolism
"Andrea" Roe, January, 1971, overwhelming infection
"Sandra" Roe, April, 1971, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse
"Anita" Roe, May, 1971, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion
Margaret Smith, June 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
"Annie" Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
"Vicki" Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
"April" Roe, August, 1971, death after saline abortion
"Barbara" Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
"Beth" Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
"Roseanne" Roe, February, 1971, vomiting with seizures causing pneumonia after saline abortion
"Connie" Roe, March, 1972, cardiac arrest during abortion
"Julie" Roe, April, 1972, holes torn in her uterus and bowel
"Roxanne," May, 1972, convulsions and death at start of abortion
"Robin" Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
Pamela Modugno, May, 1972, air in her bloodstream

* My research department has since learned her name but it was never shared by her family so I will continue to use this pseudonym.

Sources:

"Area Woman Dies After Abortion, Authorities Say," (Hamilton, OH) Journal-News, October 14, 1971
"Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: Jul. 1, 1970 - Jun. 30, 1972; Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 325

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 13, 1908: Self-Induced in Chicago

Nineteen-year-old "Cathy," identified in the source as "Miss R," used a catheter on herself to abort a six-week pregnancy. She went to a doctor for aftercare, and the physician packed her uterus with gauze.

Two days later, on September 25, 1908, she was admitted to Cook County Hospital. Her condition wasn't alarming. Her pulse of 90, respirations of 24, and temperature of 99.6 indicated a mild infection. Her uterus was enlarged and tender. Upon examination, a doctor was able to put two fingers through Cathy's dilated cervix, and noted "blood clots" in the uterus.

The next day, Cathy's condition was very much the same, if not slightly improved with a pulse of 80, respirations of 28, and temperature of 99.4. She was subjected to a uterine curettage, followed by irrigation and packing.

All the surgery did was make things worse. The localized infection had, through the scraping of the uterus, become a generalized case of toxemia. Cathy's condition deteriorated over the course of 17 days until her death on October 13.

-------------------------------

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.

October 13, 1939: A Lay Abortionist in Boston

Barbara Hanson

On October 13, 1939, the body of Barbara Hanson, age 21, was found in a Boston motel room.

Barbara, an office worker who had attended Penn State briefly, had recently graduated from a Boston business school and was living in nearby West Roxbury from State College, Pennsylvania with her married sister, Hilda. The two young women had moved to the Boston area in 1936 after the death of their mother.

Barbara had checked into the motel herself under an assumed name the previous day. At about 2:00 a.m., other guests at the motel complained to management about loud noises, described in some accounts as screams, coming from the room.

A hotel employee detective went to the room and found Barbara dead on the bed. She was tentatively identified by the I.D. found in her purse. The identification was verified by her uncle.

Police found fingerprints on four empty cocktail glasses and an open bottle on the bedside table.

James Carter

Four men were in the room with her: I. Bernard Gannon, age 23, James Carter, 27, Raymond Fermino, 26, and George F. Norton, 26. Reports say that one of them admitted on the spot to having perpetrated an abortion on Barbara, but the reports to not specify which one.

An autopsy showed that immediately after the abortion, Barbara had suffered a fatal heart attack. Barbara's father, Frederick S. Hanson, a Penn State building engineer, went to New York to claim her body. When questioned by reporters, he said, "I just received worth that Barbara had passed on. I don't know any of the circumstances."

After their trial started, James Carter and George F. Norton pleaded guilty to performing the abortion that killed Barbara, and each received a 5-7 year sentence. Bernard Gannon, who was the baby's father, and Raymond Fermino each pleaded guilty as accessories and were sentenced to one year.