Two criminal anniversaries

On June 19, 1922, 26-year-old Veronica Maslanka died in her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. The coroner identified midwife Mary Pesova as the person responsible for Veronica's death.

On June 19, 1928, 20-year-old Anna Mae Smith died from complications of an abortion she had undergone the day before at the Chicago office of Dr. George F. Slater. Dr. Slater, upon learning of Anna Mae's death, committed suicide at his home by taking poison. Anna Mae's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future when these women died. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.



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