September 26, 1943: Self-Induced in Vermont

According to Vermont death records, 33-year-old "Iona Richards" died on September 26, 1943. She had been hospitalized  at Fanny Allen hospital in Winooski for 13 days before finally passing away from purpural septicemia from a self-induced abortion. Because her death was never publicized as an abortion death I am not using her real name.

According to her obituary, she was the mother of five children. No husband is listed as a survivor or as preceding her in death, so she was likely divorced and caring for these children on her own. With this in mind, she probably decided to abort this sixth child both because pregnancy outside of marriage was very much frowned upon and because a sixth child seemed overwhelming to her.