Criminal Deaths from 1941, 1917, and 1901

On July 17, 1941, Goldie Crow died of peritonitis from a criminal abortion perpetrated on July 2 by Otto C. Lucy. Lucy was a 37-year-old psychologist and teacher, had previously been dean of men at Central State College. He performed the fatal abortion on Goldie while he was out on bail pending trial for the abortion death of Mary Ellen Legge. He was assisted by a nurse, Ruth Bowen. Though he was not a physician, Lucy had a listing in the telephone book reading "Dr. Otto C. Lucy". Lucy was sentenced to 25 years in the state penitentiary for Goldie's death.

Clearly if  Lucy had been locked up after killing Mary Ellen Legge, Goldie Crow's life would have been spared. Lucy's decision to identify himself as a doctor when he was not, coupled with his abortion practice, should have been enough to lock him up. When Roe falls, steps will have to be taken to ensure that quacks like Lucy are locked up promptly.

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On July 17, 1917, 34-year-old nurse Frances Reinhardt died at Chicago's County Hospital from septic blood poisoning caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by Dr. A. E. Thomas. Though he was held by the Coroner, he was never tried "for want of pros."

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. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.

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At about 9 a.m. on July 17, 1901, 23-year-old Juliette "Julia" O'Brien died of complications about a week after Dr. M. A. Arnholt performed an illegal abortion in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Evidently this doctor had blackmailed previous patients into keeping quiet, leading one of them to report him and uncover his abortion ring and blackmail scheme. Julia's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Note, please, that with ordinary 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. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.