Two Deaths: 1929 and 1931

On July 16, 1929, Dr. Sven Windrow performed an abortion on 19-year-old Emmy Anderson at a Chicago location. Emmy died on July 24. Dr. Windrow was held by the coroner on July 25. Jacque Lagrave, age 67, was held as an accessory. Windrow was indicted February 6, 1929 for felony murder. Emmy's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Mrs. Sophie Layton of Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to five years for the abortion death of 20-year-old Miss Celia Roberts of Granville County. Celia had gone to Raleigh in July of 1931 for an abortion, which was perpetrated on July 22. She was taken to a hospital in Oxford, where she died on July 24 after naming Layton as her abortionist. A Justice of the Peace, I. E. Harris, was arrested "on charges of advising and procuring the operation." He turned state's evidence and identified Layton as the abortionist -- though on her deathbed Celia had sworn that Harris had nothing to do with her situation. Another man, whose ties to the events I have been unable to determine, also testified that Layton went into Celia's room the night of the abortion.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. In fact, it was blood banks and antibiotics that reduced maternal deaths from abortion. Abortion-rights advocates who claim otherwise are either misinformed or are wantonly stealing credit for the accomplishments of others.