March 18, 1946: Fatal Abortion in a Seattle Sanitarium

SUMMARY: Mary Johnston, age 29, died March 18, 1946 after an abortion perpetrated at a sanitarium operated by Marjorie Folsom in Seattle.

"When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle's Maternal Death Toll," Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, has the following summary regarding the abortion death of Mary Johnson:

Margaret Folsum

One month after her husband, Roy, was discharged from the military, Mary Johnson told him she wanted to end their four year marriage. A week later he returned to the couple's Capitol Hill apartment to find her gravely ill. She told him had had an abortion at a north Seattle sanitarium run by Margaret Folsom. She died that night in the hospital. The husband may have tried to blackmail Folsom. He was later charged with extortion. Three days later Folsom and nurse Ada Wrench were arrested and charged with manslaughter and abortion. Police claimed that the sanitarium, located in a four bedroom house at was "part of a widespread abortion racket." Folsom and Wrench soon faced charges in a second fatality (Irene Timmons). Sentenced to twenty years in prison, their convictions were overturned by the State Supreme Court in 1947. In a second trial Folsom was convicted only on an abortion charge and sentenced to ten months in County jail.

The Project cites articles from the Seattle Times dated Mar. 21 and 22, Apr. 2 & 22, May 17, Sept. 17, and Nov. 11, 1946, Jul. 17, 1947, and Jun. 19, 1948 and includes a clipping, "Women, Held in Operation Case, Free on $10,000 Bail," from the Mar. 22, 1946 Seattle Times.

I have found court documents regarding the case, along with Mary's death certificate, which provide additional information. I also found Folsom's criminal record, which indicates that her first name was Marjorie, not Margaret. 

Mary's surname was Johnston, rather than Johnson. She told her husband she wanted a divorce because she had fallen in love with another man.

Folsom and Wrench evidently made repeated abortion attempts from March 11th through 15th. Mary and the man who had gotten her pregnant went to Folsom's sanitarium, referred to in court documents as a "hospital," where the man paid $350 to Wrench.

Mary was reportedly in good health when she arrived, but was very sick the following day. Her condition continued to grow worse. On March 17, Mary's lover took her from the sanitarium and settled her in her Seattle apartment.

Ada Pearl Wrench

On March 18, Mary's husband took her back to the sanitarium. From there she was taken to Columbus Hospital, where she died during emergency surgery.

Mary's brother took her body home to Yakima for burial.

Folsom argued that Mary's abortion had been perpetrated elsewhere by a man in the office of a Dr. Patee before she'd come to the sanitarium. There was some weighing of evidence regarding how long Mary had been pregnant and how long before her death she had suffered the injuries that ultimately took her life. The prosecution asserted that Folsom rented Patee's office and committed abortions there.

Mary's husband was arrested on a charge of extorting $10,000 from Folsum in exchange for his silence about the abortion. The evidence was two $5,000 cashier's checks. The March 21, 1946 Seattle Star said that the usual price for an abortion was $350, which is roughly $5700 in 2025. 

Folsom was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Wrench, as her accomplice, was sentenced to a fine and a jail sentence. Folsom was able to successfully appeal her conviction. 

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Additional sources: 

• "Ex-resident In Death Case," The (Vancouver, WA) Columbian, March 21, 1946
• "Illegal Surgery Probe Spurred," The Seattle Star, March 21, 1946
• "Arrest Nurse For Abortion," The Bremerton (WA) Sun, March 21, 1946
• "2 Charged in Woman's Death," The Seattle Star, March 22, 1946
• "Seattle Pair Posts Abortion Case Bond," The Daily Olympian, March 22, 1946
• "Women, Held in Operation Case, Free on $10,000 Bail," Seattle Times, March 22, 1946
• "Extortion-Case Evidence Found," Seattle Star, March 30, 1946
• "Extortion Laid to Husband in Alleged Illegal-Surgery Death," Seattle Star, March 29, 1946
• "Woman Posts Bail In Abortion Charge," The Bremerton (WA) Sun, May 18, 1946
• "2 Deny Accusation Of Illegal Surgery," Seattle Star, May 21, 1946
• "Illegal Surgery Brings 20 Years," Seattle Star, November 30, 1946
• "Sentence Passed on Two Women," Spokane Daily Chronicle, November 30, 1946
• "Conviction in Abortion Ordered Reversed," The  (Vancouver, WA) Columbian, July 17, 1947