April 30: Two Typical Chicago Abortions, Early 20th Century

Dr. Lillian Hobbs

On April 30, 1917, Mrs. Ruth Lemaire, age 24, died at West Side Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. In her deathbed statement she implicated one of Chicago's many physician/abortionists, 50-year-old Dr. Lillian Hobbs. However, the coroner's jury did not place blame on Hobbs, and the case came to naught. Hobbs was later convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.

On April 30, 1923, 29-year-old homemaker Emma Herod died in her home from an abortion performed there that day. Another Chicago many physician/abortionists, Dr. Emma J. Warren, age 53, was arrested for the death. On July 15, Warren was indicted for felony murder in Emma's death. Warren had already been implicated in the 1917 abortion death of 27-year-old Annie DeGroote.