1900: Abortion by midwife kills woman in her Chicago home

On August 4, 1900, Mrs. Mary Borglun died in her home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. Mrs. Mary Kempfer was arrested that same day and held without bail by a Coroner's Jury. Kempfer's employment status was listed as nurse or midwife -- though she might have been an obstetrician, since at that time obstetrics was often referred to as "midwifery" when practiced by a woman.



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

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