Wednesday, February 18, 2026

February 18, 1883: Fiancé, Physician, and Abortionist

A Victorian-era portrait of a beautiful, elagant-looking young white woman with dark hair, pearl drop earrings, and a lace collar
Kittie O'Toole

At about 2:00 p.m. on February 18, 1883, 28-year-old Irish immigrant Kittie O'Toole died at the office of Dr. Charles H. Orton, her betrothed, in Milwaukee. 


Dr. Orton, approximately 60 years of age widowed about six months earlier, had once been a reputable physician active in local politics but his reputation had deteriorated in later years. In 1876 he was indicted for selling liquor without a license. He was arrested later that year for counterfeiting and fled the city, forfeiting his $2,500 bail. He was located the next year in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was practicing medicine under the name C. C. Chambers. He was brought back to Milwaukee to stand trial. He was convicted and ended up spending a year in prison. 

Kittie's body was removed to the home of her aunt, Mrs. Dolan, where her family wanted to prepare for her burial. They lay her out on a bed in the front room.

The authorities wen to Mrs. Dolan's house and didn't bother to separate people before talking to them. Dr. Orton said that Kittie had long suffered from epilepsy and had told him that if she were ever taken with a fit he was to throw water in her face. He said that she'd told him that she knew that eventually the epilepsy would kill her.

While the police were talking to Dr. Orton, Mrs. Dolan went and fetched Kittie's brother-in-law. He said that Kittie had been ailing for a long time. Some days she would be up and about while other days she was unable to get out of bed. Mrs. Dolan scolded him, saying that he should keep his mouth shut and let people find things out instead of telling them.

Over the protest of Kittie's aunt, Dr. Keston and Dr. Connell insisted upon an autopsy and removed Kittie's body from the home.

Dr. Orton testified before the Coroner's Jury:
"Hard to say how long I have known the girl, but probably for ten or fifteen years. She died at my office on Sunday afternoon, after 2 o'clock. .... I boarded at the Metropolitan hotel. Kittie waited on me and I learned to like her as a daughter. My wife lived at the hotel with me. I was sent for several times to attend her when she had epileptic fits. About two months ago she called at my office and said she had sleepless nights, saw balls of fire in the air and was afraid she would die. She said at St. Paul she was in a Catholic hospital and they treated her for vertigo. I prescribed medicine for her and we became intimate and engaged."

"She said her aunt on Prospect Avenue wanted her to live with her, but she was notable to work and was afraid she would die, as she would there be left alone considerable. She then went to live on the Lisbon Plank Road, about four miles from the city, with her brother, Mike O'Toole, who kept a tavern and saloon. They had no suitable room for her there, and I furnished rooms for her."

"She grew worse and I called to see her daily or as I thought her health required. One night I watched with her all night and she was delirious. At last they thought it looked bad for me to be keeping her in my rooms, so we decided to get married, although I told her my good wife had been dead but a short time."

"We talked over church matters, and I said I was willing to be married in the Catholic Church. The trouble of its being Lent then arose, but Mr. Olwell, of Oconomowoc, her brother-in-law, procured a special dispensation. I took Kittie to my office, with all her effects, because we were to go to Oconomowoc directly after being married."
Orton said that he'd left Kittie in good spirits while he ran an errand. He came back ten minutes later, he said, and found in in the throes of a severe convulsion, with her hands clenched and her eyes fixed. For some reason, although he said he'd known Kittie to be epileptic, he concluded that she was suffering from some sort of poisoning.
"I worked over the girl constantly until the arrival of Dr. Martin, would blow my breath into her body, which she would eject with a gurgling sound. When Dr. Martin came he said it was no use to do anything more as the poor girl was dead."
Dr. Senn, Dr. Kasten, and Dr. Connell eventually performed an autopsy. They arranged for a chemist to study her stomach for signs of poisoning. She had a disease affecting her heart valves, but the doctors did not think that this alone would have been enough to kill her. "One of the physicians says that a sensation would be caused when they reported," said the Iowa County Democrat. This is the first indicate that Kitty died from an abortion.

The postmortem examination had found that she had died from edema of the lungs, which the doctors believed had been brought about due to an abortion. Kittie's uterus showed signs of recent pregnancy and was damaged in ways that the news did not describe. The coroner's jury found Orton culpable for two murders -- of Kittie and of her unborn baby -- for having perpetrated a fatal abortion. Orton was finally charged with manslaughter in Kittie's death.

Orton had amassed a fortune of around $40,000 during the time he was involved in counterfeiting. He had put the money in his wife's name and it passed to his daughter when Mrs. Orton died. Thus his daughter was easily able to bail her father out.

After all of the investigation and media coverage, in late April a municipal court judge suddenly dismissed all of the charges against Orton, saying that there had been no testimony indicating that an abortion had been performed.

Whether for love or money, Orton was not alone for long. In early August he married Kate Martin in Chicago.

Watch The Mystery of Kittie O'Toole on YouTube.

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February 18, 1916: The Second Victim of Dr. Bennet Graff?

Mercy Hospital, Denver

In late January and early February of 1916, 24-year-old Beulah Sutphen Hatch lay gravely ill in Denver's Mercy Hospital. She and her husband, George, had eloped from his home in Longmont, Colorado to Boulder to be married December 16, 1915. She had been receiving care from Dr. Bennett Graff, who admitted another patient, Ruth Camp.

Did the two ailing women ever meet? 

Ruth died on February 2. Her death was attributed to a criminal abortion, purportedly perpetrated by Graff in a Denver hotel on January 27.

Graff was arrested but released on bail. 

Meanwhile, on February 18, Beulah died, less than three months after her wedding. Her death was also attributed to an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Graff.

The Longmont Call reported that Beulah had died "after an illness of several week's duration." However, it was only on the Friday before her death that anybody notified her family. Her widowed father, Riley Sutphen, hurried to Denver along with her brother, Earl, and her elder sister. I've been unable to determine if they reached her bedside in time.

Graff was found guilty of murder in Ruth's death on June 16. Graff won a new trial when a witness came forward and placed the responsibility for the abortion on a lay practitioner, rather than another doctor, and asserted that Graff was merely attempting life-saving aftercare for Ruth.

George was a musician in an art theater. Beulah had attended college in Fort Collins in 1914.

I've been unable to find any other information about Beulah or the case.

Watch One Doctor. One Hospital. Two Dead Women. on YouTube.
Watch One Doctor. One Hospital. Two Dead Women. on Rumble.

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February 18, 2002: Hidden abortion injury causes death in later pregnancy

Emmeko Celine Reed was born on December 2, 1972 in Los Angeles. Between court records, public records, and her autopsy report, we can see that this young black woman struggled to find her way in life but never seemed to find any stability.

Emmeko moved to San Diego at some point prior to 1993. By the turn of the 20th century she had lived in a series of apartments in the North Park area, which at the time was, according to Grok, a moderately run-down urban neighborhood with an above-average rate of property crime. According to an online records search, she was arrested in March of 1994, at the age of 21, and involved in the domestic courts in October of 1999, when she was 26. These might seem like minor bumps in the road, but as we will see, Emmeko was a troubled young woman. 

Very little about her history is very straightforward. In fact, investigators were unable even to determine how often Emmeko had been pregnant in her life and the outcomes of those pregnancies. Was this her second pregnancy, 7th pregnancy, or 11th pregnancy? Had she delivered one or four live children prior to this pregnancy? Had she suffered a previous stillbirth? The only things certain turned out to be a this final pregnancy, a pregnancy that had ended with a C-section, and one that had ended with an induced abortion.

It All Comes Crashing Down

Grok AI illustration
Emmeko was 29 years old and 32 weeks pregnant when she was struck with sudden severe abdominal pain either late night on February 17, 2002 or in the very early morning of February 18. One summary of her case said that the pain started when she was resting, but another indicates that she was cleaning her kitchen. Shortly after midnight the pain had become so severe that she called 911. San Diego Fire Medic Unit 62 rushed to her aid. They took her vitals and a brief medical history, nothing that there was no discharge or bleeding. Medics started an IV and transported her to Grossmont Hospital Women's Center. 

Emmeko told the doctors that the pain had come on suddenly. Her urine tested positive for amphetamines, and she reported not having obtained any prenatal care. Her baby was still alive, though, as demonstrated by fetal heart tones. 

Emmeko went into shock, with only a faint pulse and poor respiration. Doctors intubated her and administered packed red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma, likely both because they suspected a catastrophic complication with the uterus and/or placenta and because of anticipated blood loss during surgery. They rushed her into the operating room for an emergency C-section and exploratory surgery to determine the exact cause of the excruciating pain.

Upon opening Emmeko's abdomen, surgeons discovered that it was too late to save her unborn son, Matthew Stephen Ellis. He had been expelled into his mother's abdomen through a rupture in his mother's uterus. Both Matthew and the uterus were removed and doctors sutured the tear in her uterus and struggled to control the bleeding. They administered a total of 6 units of packed red blood cells, 2 units of fresh frozen plasma,  and one unit of cryoprecipitate, which is a blood product used to combat hemorrhage caused by failure of the blood to clot properly.

In spite of these heroic efforts, Emmeko's heart stopped and her team was unable to resuscitate her. Emmeko was pronounced dead in the operating room at 2:28 am.

The medical examiner's office sent staff to the operating room to collect Emmeko's body, which was officially identified by her mother, and the body of her unborn child.

At Autopsy

Emmeko was only a tad over 5 feet tall, but weighed 194 pounds at autopsy, indicating difficulty maintaining a healthy weight. Other than that and the amphetamines, she appeared to have been in overall good health. Her internal organs were healthy and in good condition. Her hair was clean and healthy, her nails carefully trimmed and polished. She had a tattoo of a rose and tattoos reading "Anthony" and "Emmeko."

But there was something else evident at autopsy: Amphetamine use was not the only poor coping mechanism Emmeko had resorted to over the course of her life. Her wrists showed scars consistent with self-cutting, along with some old puncture scars around them. These were healed. Whatever was going on in her life during this final pregnancy, violence had not been a part of it. Emmeko's body showed all the signs of the medical interventions to try to save her life, but only minimal signs of injury -- a half-inch scar across her nose and some small old bruises on her right arm.

Understandably, the medical examiner made a very careful examination of Emmeko's uterus to determine why it had torn open, spilling out both her baby and her life. The placenta had not attached in any abnormal way. A previous lower uterine scar from a C-section was still holding strong. 

But the area where Emmeko's uterus tore open is another matter. The muscular wall of the uterus, normally between 7 and 15 mm (1/3 to 2/3 inch) thick at late pregnancy, was only 3 mm (1/10 inch) thick in the area that later tore open. This ragged tear was 6 cm (2.36 inches) long and the area around it showed bleeding inside the tissue.  

What had caused Emmeko's uterus to be so thin and vulnerable and ready to tear open in a later pregnancy? According to her family, Emmeko had undergone a “safe and legal” abortion at an FPA facility in San Diego. The top of her uterus had been scraped thin during the abortion, leading to Emmeko's death in this subsequent pregnancy.

Emmeko’s death was not included in CDC statistics on deaths from legal abortion because California did not submit abortion statistics to the FDA -- not to mention if her death was noted by public health officials at all, it would be attributed to the final, otherwise healthy pregnancy rather than to the previous abortion which had left a ticking time bomb ready to explode without warning.

Emmeko's family sued FPA and doctors Edward Allred, Joel Berchin, Mark Christofferson, Christopher H Glazener, along with Longmont Hospital and other physicians, on behalf of Emmeko and her unborn son. 

She Was Not Alone

Emmeko was one of many who suffered fatal abortion injuries at Family Planning Associates Medical Group and its related facilities. Others include but are not limited to:

  • Denise Holmes, age 24, who died from fetal bone marrow getting into her lungs in 1970
  • Patricia Chacon, age 16, who bled to death in 1984
  • Mary Pena, age 43, who also bled to death in1984
  • Josefina Garcia, age 37, who bled to death from an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy in an FPA recovery room in 1985
  • Laniece Dorsey, age 17, who went into a coma then quickly died in1986
  • Joyce Ortenzio, age 32, who was sent home with retained fetal parts in 1988
  • Tami Suematsu, age 19, who suffered bronchial spasm and death in 1988
  • Susan Levy, age 30, a homeless woman who died of post-abortion infection while living ina a friend's car in 1992
  • Deanna Bell, age 13, who died of a massive anesthesia overdose in 1992
  • Christina Mora, age 18, who went septic after a three-minute second-trimester abortion in 1994
  • Ta Tanisha Wesson, age 24, who went into a coma and died in 1995
  • Nakia Jorden, who died of anesthesia complication sin 1998
  • Maria Leho, who died of anesthesia complications in 1999 
  • Kimberly Neil, who stopped breathing and died in 2000
  • Maria Rodriguez, age 22, who bled to death in 2000
  • Chanelle Bryant, age 22, who died of sepsis from abortion pills in 2004
  • "Kyla Ellis," age 23, who bled to death in 2014

In addition to these, Barbara Plenger also died in 1988 after an FPA facility inserted an IUD without full informed consent and caused an abscess in her reproductive organs.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2026

February 17, 1929: Midwife Kills Chicago Woman

Before her death at Illinois Masonic Hospital on February 17, 1929, Mrs. Gladys Schaeffer said that a midwife named Emma Schulz had performed an abortion on her on February 12.

Gladys was a married woman, 23 years old.

When police went to arrest Schulz, she took poison in a suicide attempt. Police took her to Belmont Hospital. 

According to Grok, Schulz survived and the case was dropped. 

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February 17, 1995: First of Biskind's Two Dead Patients

Lisa Bardsley
Lisa Kristine Bardsley was a vibrant and active young woman, 26 years old and 20.6 weeks pregnant on February 16, 1995. She had been an honor roll student and was a 1986 graduate of Flagstaff High in Flagstaff, Arizona. 

She traveled from her home in Flagstaff to A to Z Women's Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. There she was to undergo an abortion at the hands of Dr. John Biskind. 

Biskind and his Clinic

Lisa might have thought twice about entrusting herself to Biskind's care if she had known more about his history.

Dr. John Biskind
Biskind had very nearly killed an abortion patient in 1991. He put a 2-inch hole in the woman's uterus. An hour later a clinic nurse was unable to measure a blood pressure. Biskind wasn't there to deal with the woman. He had left the clinic before his patient had been medically cleared, and didn't react to his pager or cell phone. Fortunately for the patient, the nurse called 911 instead of continuing to try to reach her boss. Medics arrived and transported the 41-year-old woman across the street to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where an emergency hysterectomy was performed to save her life.

Black and white headshot of a middle aged man of Jewish descent with dark hair, a receeding hairline, large, dark 1980s style eyeglasses, and wearing a suit coat and tieThe medical board found out about the woman's nearly-fatal experience when the hospital filed a complaint about the clinic's owner, Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch, who was implicated in the abortion deaths of Christina Goesswein, Tanya Williamson, and Luz Rodriguez, and owned the clinic where Jammie Garcia underwent her fatal abortion.

In a six-month period, the ER had treated four of the Biskind's patients, leading hospital staff to be concerned about the care women were receiving. 

The medical board, on the other hand, didn't seem particularly concerned and took no action. 

Lisa's Experience at the Clinic

Dr. John Biskind documented that he inserted 5 laminaria to dilate Lisa's cervix. The preprinted consent form that Lisa signed stated that she would stay within 5 miles/15 minutes from the facility, and a handwritten note on the page added, "Patient stated during counseling that she will stay overnight in Phoenix - within 15 minutes of the clinic. Joy K. Noll."

You read that right. Biskind, like others who do abortions late in the pregnancy, endangered his patients by just sending them out the door under their own fragile care, or the care of a loved one, when it's not safe for them to be more than 15 minutes away.

The undated preprinted surgical procedure report did not note how much cervical dilation Biskind had achieved for his patient. It does note that she entered the OR at 10:33 am, was administered a selection of drugs at 10:26 and more drugs at 10:47, and taken to the recovery room at 11:00, still unconscious. 

It's interesting that the pre-printed operative report is not specific to this patient but merely says "Uterine contents consisted of placental tissue and products of conception. .... The patient tolerated the procedure well and left the operating room for recovery in good condition."

Just half an hour later, at 11:00, Lisa was discharged from the facility even though her blood pressure and pulse had fallen since she'd entered the recovery room. Biskind felt no need to medically clear his patient before sending her home even though a woman had very nearly died just a few years earlier. "My experience has given me the ability to feel secure. I used to see all second tri patients, but it just wasn't necessary," he later told the medical board.

There are no indications of whether Lisa was told to stay near the facility after the abortion procedure itself. The instructions just noted that she was to stay near the facility for the dilation prior to the procedure.

She Never Made it Home

Lisa and her boyfriend didn't feel they could afford a hotel in Phoenix, so they decided to go home to Flagstaff. On the way, she took ill, so the couple stopped at a motel at Camp Verde. Lisa hoped that if she rested a while she'd feel better. However, her pain worsened and she began suffering shortness of breath. Her boyfriend called 911. 

Lisa was taken to a hospital in Cottonwood, where she was pronounced dead at 4:55 pm on February 17. An autopsy found an 8 cm (over 3 inch) laceration of her uterus and about 2000 cc (over half a gallon) of blood in her abdomen. Her cause of death was listed as intra-abdominal hemorrhage secondary to perforation of the uterus secondary to pregnancy termination. 

A Grieving Father

Lisa's father, Curtis "Skip" Bardsley, told the Arizona Daily Sun, "I can't tell you how many times I thought about going  to Phoenix and just doing this guy." But he would think of his other children and pursue justice through the medical board and the courts. He even moved from his home in California to Flagstaff. He settled his lawsuit against Biskind for an undisclosed amount and tried to get the medical board to take action.

"I couldn't take it. I had to be here for this thing. It took three years to get anything done at all to this guy." Skip sat in on the medical board proceedings as an observer. All that happened, however, was that Biskind was censured. No steps were taken to protect women. Biskind told the medical board that he'd told Lisa not to leave the area for 48 hours so it was her own fault she'd bled to death from the 3-inch hole he'd torn in her uterus.

Another Woman Dies Needlessly

Lou Ann Herron

Three years later, 33-year-old Lou Ann Herron made the mistake of trusting Biskind with her life. Like Lisa, Lou Ann suffered a tear in her uterus. As with Lisa, Biskind paid no attention to signs that his patient was hemorrhaging. In fact, he left the clinic and entrusted Lou Ann to the supervision of some medical assistants. The staff mopped her blood off the floor as her life drained away. By the time anybody called medics to take her across the street to the hospital, it was too late to save her.

Skip followed Biskind's prosecution for Lou Ann's death as well and asked the judge to sentence the abortionist to the maximum sentence.

Lou Ann's father also sued the medical board for letting Biskind get away with what he'd done to Lisa. The suit alleged that the board had prepared its "finding of facts and law" before even holding a hearing. 

Final Words from Lisa's Father

Lisa had worked as a canyoneer and rancher at Phantom Ranch, where she did cooking, cleaning, greeting guests, and performing odd jobs. 

Skip Bardsley told the Arizona Daily Sun that he had Lisa's remains cremated. "I took her down to the Grand Canyon and spread her because that's where she worked, and she loved that place. I'm going down to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. I hike down every year at her birthday and celebrate it with her."

Watch The Medical Board Could Have Stopped Him on YouTube.
Watch The Medical Board Could Have Stopped Him on Rumble.

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1971: Legalization Triggers Maternal Death and Mass Nursing Crisis in the Aloha State

Hawaii was one of the first states to legalize abortion essentially on demand. While a handful of medical safeguards prevented it from becoming a destination for “abortion tourism” like New York or California, they weren’t enough to save an unidentified woman in 1971.

“Coral” was a resident of Hawaii. State regulations required that prospective abortion clients live in Hawaii for at least 90 days before. This would ensure that the client would be able to return to facility or hospital to receive care in the event of complications. (If other states such as New York or California had implemented a similar policy, it could have saved the lives of many, including but not limited to Lisa Marie Hoefener, Denise Holmes and Kathryn Strong.) In addition, abortions past “viability” were still banned except for health exemptions, minors required the knowledge and consent of a guardian, and hospitals were free to set their own regulations to further protect the health of their clients.

Unfortunately, these protective regulations were not enough to save Coral. She underwent a “safe and legal” hypertonic saline abortion. This method was highly dangerous; one hospital reported a 32.7% rate of serious complications among their saline abortion clients. (It is not specified if it was the same hospital where Coral underwent her fatal abortion.)

In addition to mortality and morbidity of abortion clients, another negative effect of legalization was documented: the psychological effects on hospital staff, particularly nurses, amounted to “an unexpected crisis in patient care.” A study compiled interviews with nurses involved in abortions or in the care of post-abortive women and found that every single one of them “suffered from strong emotional reactions” such as anxiety, depression and even identity crisis— including those who had initially supported the legalization before it was actually implemented. It was concluded that conscience protections for these workers were crucial; "The option of not working on abortion cases must be kept open."

Abortion in Hawaii: 1970–1971

A Preliminary Report: Abortion in Hawaii—— Present and Future Trends

Hawaii Med J. 1973, A Midterm Procedure Not Without Risks

Fam Plann Perspectives 1973

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February 17, 1917: A Deadly Obstetrician

SUMMARY: Marie Benzing, age 28, died February 17, 1917 after an abortion perpetrated in Chicago by Dr. Helen Dugdale.

On February 17, 1917, 28-year-old homemaker Marie Benzing died at Chicago Union Hospital from septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by Dr. Helen Dugdale. Dugdale was arrested on February 18 and indicted by a Grand jury on March 15, but the case never went to trial. She was alter arrested for the 1918 death of Gertrude Harrington.

Dugdale's husband, George B. Dugdale, owned a notorious saloon, the New Delaware, that was dubbed by locals the Bucket of Blood, inspired, it is believed, by another tavern at the corner of 19th and Federal:

"This predecessor is described as follows on the Chicago Crime Scene Project: "Across Federal Street from the Bucket of Blood was the cheapest group of brothels in the city, affectionately known as 'Bed Bug Row,' which operated until 1913. A woman could be had there for $0.25, and there were also peep shows, torture chambers, and drug dens where heroin and morphine could be purchased openly (neither was illegal until the 1910s)."

Whether Dugdale chose to become an abortionist because of the ready business of the prostitutes, or whether she moved into the area in order to be the handiest abortionist for the prostitutes, of course, would only have been known to her.

Note, please, that with overall public health 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.

In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

external image MaternalMortality.gif

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

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Monday, February 16, 2026

February 16, 1918: Self-Induced Abortion Leaves Five Children Motherless

The testimony Edwin (or Edward) 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 B. Noah. 

According to public record, Helen and Edwin had married in November of 1904 when Edwin was working as a messenger. Helen was the second of 11 children born to Edward and Ethel Bell Ferris. One of Helen's sisters, 3-year-old Mary, died when Helen was 10. Her father died the year Helen and Edwin married. 

Edwin told the coroner's jury that Helen 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, Edwin said, Helen had 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. Dr. 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. She left behind five children, ranging in age from 3 to 12 years of age. Public records don't show that Edwin, working as a paperhanger at the time of his wife's death, ever remarried.

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

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February 16, 1929: Bribery Charges Eclipse Abortion Death

In February of 1929, Ruth Weir, age 25, of East Orange, New Jersey, lay dying at Orange Memorial Hospital of sepsis contracted through a criminal abortion that had been perpetrated a month earlier. Hospital officials reported the situation to authorities, who came to her bedside and took a deathbed statement in which she implicated Dr. Maurice Sturm.

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.

Ruth died on February 16, 1929.

Dr. Sturm was arrested and charged with first degree murder. At first nurse Gertrude Halloway denied that she'd seen Strum perform the abortion. However, the prosecutor took her out of the courtroom and had a long discussion with her. She returned to court and said that she'd perjured herself and actually had seen Strum commit the crime. She had, she admitted, actually assisted by handing Sturm his instruments as he worked. She said that she'd come clean in order to avoid being prosecuted for perjury. "Dr. Sturm told me yesterday that I need not worry about what would happen here in court. He said the case would be thrown out of court in half an hour. But I was worried. You see, a mysterious woman I didn't know called me on the telephone yesterday and warned me that the doctor had no friends in the District Attorney's office and that the DA's office was going to come after him strong. And a little later I got the same message from a strange man. The man also said that I'd surely be held in jail if I committed perjury. I told Dr. Sturm about the messages. He said, 'Don't worry. If they throw you in jail I'll bail you out.'"

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." Strum was presented in the news as part of a large abortion ring.

Sturm was reported to have offered a $10,000 bribe to an aide of the District Attorney. New coverage shifted from the deadly abortion to the allegations of corruption. The case dragged on much longer than usual before it finally went to court while the issue lingered and witnesses disappeared.

Sturm said that that $1,000 he had given the judge after District Attorney Ryan's resignation was a gift and not part of the bribe money. Sturm was later acquitted of the manslaughter charge in Ruth's death.

Watch Dr. Sturm's Cash on YouTube. 

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February 16, 1931: The Middle of Dr. Emil Gleitsmann's Trail of Death

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann had a long criminal history of abortion starting in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition. 

He was prosecuted but acquitted in the December 12, 1930 death of Jeanette Reder.

After his acquittal for Jeanette's death he was indicted for the February 16, 1931 death of 25-year-old Mathilda Cornelius. According to census records, Mathilda and her husband, Joseph, had two young sons, ages 1 and 3.

Gleitsmann was arrested in February of 1933 after Rosalie Lewis died in a Chicago Hospital. He was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.

He was implicated again in the June 8, 1934 death of 26-year-old Elsie Quall.

Gleitsman got in trouble again in 1937 for the death of 16-year-old Phyllis Brown. However, that death was eventually attributed to Dr. C. Harold Edmunds.

At last he was held accountable for his crimes and sentenced to 14 years for the December 10, 1941 death of Marie O'Malley.


"Accused in Woman's Death," Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1931
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February 16, 1890: Another Mysterious Chicago Abortionist

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, 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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February 16, 1925: Mystery Abortion in Chicago

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, 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.

I've been unable to find any other information on Agnes's death.

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February 16, 1940: A Criminal Abortion in New York

Grok AI illustration
In my search for abortion deaths I went through New York death records and learned about the death of Blanche Daniels Bryant. Genealogy records indicate that she was a native of North Carolina.

Blanche was a 24-year-old Black homemaker living with her husband, William, on Franklin Avenue in New York. She died at Kings County Hospital in New York 14, 1940. Her death was attributed to "generalized peritonitis; perforated uterus; gangrenous endometritis, criminal abortion."

She was the daughter of John and Mary Daniels.

I've been unable to learn anything else about Blanche's death.

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Sunday, February 15, 2026

February 15, 2013: Untrained Staff + Non-Functioning Equipment = Dead Patient

Thirty-eight-year-old Maria Santiago ("Patient A") was an abortion patient at Associates in OB/GYN Care, a seedy Baltimore abortion facility located in a residential condominium complex. The medical director, Mansour G. Panah, had been disciplined by the state three times, including incidents in 1988 and 1995 when he had engaged in what the Baltimore Sun referred to as "unwanted sexual contact with patients."

According to an inspection conducted by the Maryland Department of Health, Maria was 12.5 weeks pregnant on February 13, 2013. The abortionist, Iris Dominy, did not obtain proper informed consent from Maria, who did not speak English or Spanish. She didn't perform a proper pre-operative physical examination. She didn't see to it that Maria was properly monitored while she was undergoing conscious sedation. 


Dominy told the inspector that Maria slept through her abortion, after which Dominy left the room. An unqualified worker, occupied with filling out paperwork, was left alone with the still-sedated patient, who was lying on the abortion table.

At some point, the worker called for a second worker to help her dress the unconscious patient and move her to the recovery area. The second worker noticed that Maria was pale and not breathing.

Dominy was notified and returned to the procedure room where she sat the unconscious patient up and began a “sternum rub,” an appropriate test to see if a patient is responsive but totally useless for telling if a sedated patient is breathing.

No one at the facility, including Dominy, had current CPR certification. A crash cart in the hallway was not used and the defibrillator was broken. Somebody, however, did call 911. Paramedics were able to revive Maria, who was transported her to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead two days later, February 15.

Maria’s death certificate showed she died from Severe Pulmonary Edema, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and Hypoxia Brain Injury. No one knows how long she was not breathing before CPR was begun. Inspectors concluded that staff failed to provide proper post-anesthesia care and observation.

The operating license of that facility was suspended after state inspectors determined that it posed a danger to the public. The Medical Board suspended Dominy's license. for working in a facility that endangered patients' lives by allowing unqualified staff to perform ultrasounds, evaluate patients, and administer medication without the doctor first examining the patient and determining if the medication was appropriate. 

Iris Dominy allowed her Maryland license to expire in 2018, though she still shows up as actively practicing in online physician searches. The clinic and its affiliated clinics in Cheverly, Frederick, and Silver Spring were affiliated with American Women's Services, controlled by the infamous Dr. Steven Chase Brigham.


Sources in links, plus the following:
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February 15, 1925: Lucy Hagenow and the Five-Day Bride

A smiling young white woman with 1920s style clothes, hair, and makeup standing in front of some shrubbery
Nina Harding Pierce

On February 10, 1925, Nina Ruth Harding and Logan F. Pierce ran away to Chicago and were married in a private ceremony performed by Rev. S. D. White of St. Paul's Methodist Church. Two school friends served as witnesses. 


Nina, age 20, was a sophomore at the University of Illinois. Logan, age 22, was a recent graduate. He worked in a brokerage firm. Nina was a sister in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Logan a member of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. Logan had been very active in campus politics. Nina traced her lineage back to the Mayflower and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her father, Robert Harding, was head of the upscale real estate firm.

Reverend White noticed nothing odd about the wedding party. "I asked them the usual qualifying questions, and the wedding was performed without a doubt in my mind that everything was all right" he told the Chicago Tribune. "The man seemed about 22 years old and the girl about 20. She was a bright little thing and I detected no trace of worry. I talked to them a little about the duties and sacrifices of married life and they went along."

The newlyweds took up lodging in a small furnished room. Their landlady told the Chicago Tribune, "They were very nice, and the girl was quiet. Mr. Pierce went to work every day and she stayed at home. I thought she looked healthy enough."

An unsmiling young white man wearing a coat and tie, with his light hair slicked down
Logan Pierce
Four days later, late in the evening of Valentine's Day of 1925, Logan Pierce told the landlady that his young bride was ill. He sought out Dr. J. A. McGaughey, who was a friend of Logan's father's. The physician found the young woman in critical condition and in need of immediate surgery. 

At Dr. McGaughey's instruction, Logan took a gravely ill Nina to the Chicago Lying-In Hospital and remained with her for several hours. He left for a time, leaving Nina to die alone but for the strangers who had fought in vain to save her life. When he returned to the hospital on the 15th and learned of her death he quickly disappeared. Police issued a warrant for the arrest of the flighty husband.

Logan was lying low, fully aware that he was in big trouble. The only immediate traces of him were telephone messages to a private club and his rooming house, asking if a telegram had come from his father, capitalist Chambers Logan Pierce. He had left all of his belongings and clothing behind at the lodgings he had so briefly shared with his bride. He also had left behind a paper with the phone number of notorious Chicago abortionist Dr. Lucy Hagenow. 

Hagenow's whereabouts were no mystery and police quickly took her into custody. They found a paper with Logan's name and address at her office. Hagenow admitted that Nina had come to her practice the previous Tuesday or Wednesday, but denied having performed an abortion on her.

The elder Pierce hurried to Chicago from La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he had been establishing a commercial loan bank. He arranged an attorney for his son. Young Logan, accompanied by the lawyer, turned himself in but utterly refused to answer any questions and at first even to identify the 80-year-old Hagenow, who had already been arrested. 

"The big, sad faced youth, who had been engaged to his bride since last winter, was no more communicative to newspaper men," noted the Chicago Tribune. "'My attorneys don't want me to talk at all,' was his only interview."

Chicago Police Captain Russell told the Tribune, "I feel nothing but pity for the boy but I had to book him as an accessory to the murder when he refused to aid the police investigation." Logan was released on $11,500 bail.

Eventually  Logan admitted that he had accompanied his bride to Hagenow's practice, but insisted that he hadn't known about the abortion until she became ill.

The Coroner's Jury wouldn't affix specific blame to Hagenow, so her attorney sought to get the charges dropped, to no avail. Hagenow was held to a Grand Jury on $35,000 bond, and Pierce on $7,500. Hagenow was charged with murder, and Logan as an accessory.

Meanwhile, Nina's heartbroken father travelled to Chicago with his son Harold for the inquest. He then took his daughter's body home to East St. Louis for burial.

Hagenow, who had already been implicated of the abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, Annie Dorris, Abbia Richards, and Emma Dep in San Francisco, would go on to be linked to over a dozen Chicago abortion deaths:
Hagenow was typical of criminal abortionists in that she was a physician.


Sources:
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