1921: Mystery Abortionist Kills Immigrants' Daughter

On December 28, 1921, Belle Keehn died at the Chicago Lying-In Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by an unknown doctor on or about November 27. Documents are unclear as to how it was determined that the perpetrator was a doctor. The hospital was a reputable facility, not a seedy abortionarium, so Belle would have received superior care as doctors tried to save her life.

Belle, a native of Wisconsin, was married to Max Keehn and worked as a housekeeper. She was the daughter of immigrants -- Frank Luzenski of Poland, and Mary (Weir) Luzenski of Germany.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. 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