A brief summary, a confession, and a medical board investigation

I know very little about the first woman featured today. On October 19, 1910, Pelagia Usorowski, age 32, died in a Chicago residence from an abortion that had been performed on October 13. Rosalie Tomajoski, whose occupation is given only as "abortion provider", was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder in Pelagia's death.

I have far more information about the 1954 death of Betty Ladel. A naturopath named Sylvia Redman made, then recanted, a confession that went into a lot of detail and was consistent with the autopsy findings. Click on Betty's name to learn more.

Finally, we have the 1990 death of 19-year-old Christina Goesswein from complications of a rather shady abortion performed by Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch in Bronx, New York. Click on Christina's name to learn about the appalling findings of the medical board investigation into Christina's death. Click on Hachamovitch's name to learn about the other women who died at his hands or under his supervision.