Over a Century of Abortion Deaths

1981: A Fatal Embolism

Norma Greene, a 34-year-old divorcee, went into cardio-respiratory arrest and died in a Winston-Salem hospital on March 16, 1981. Her death certificate indicates that the arrest was caused by a pulmonary embolism (tissue or air in the lungs) following a recent abortion.

1973: Civil Rights Leader Turned Abortion Profiteer

Dr. T.R. Mason Howard

Reports on death of Evelyn Dudley, age 38, alleged that she was treated at Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on March 16, 1973. Later, at home, she collapsed in the driveway. She was taken to a hospital, where attempts to save her failed.

Her death was due to shock, hemorrhage from a ruptured cervix and vagina, from "remote abortion." Civil rights leader Dr. T.R. Mason Howard (pictured) stated that Evelyn was treated at Friendship for infection sustained in an abortion in Detroit. But Evelyn's brother stated that she had come to Chicago specifically to have the abortion.

Julia Rogers and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.


1924: A Mystery Abortion in Chicago

On March 16, 1924, 35-year-old Selma Hedlund died in Chicago's Jefferson Park Hospital (pictured) from complications of an abortion performed that day. The sources says that she died at the crime scene. Nobody was ever positively identified as the abortionist. However, a Carl Carlson, indicated as a person known to Selma, was arrested as an accomplice.


1915: Two Days, Three Deaths

On March 16, 1915, 19-year-old saleslady Hazel Wilcox, who also worked as a cabaret singer, died at a Chicago home from sepsis caused by an abortion believed to have been perpetrated that day by midwife Julia Patera. Patera was held by the coroner on March 20 but the case never went to trial, despite the fact that Elinora Cassidy had died only the previous day after identifying Patera as her abortionist.

In an odd coincidence, a second woman named Hazel died in Chicago on March 16, 1915. Hazel Carr, a 26-year-old homemaker, died in her Chicago home from an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator.


1905: One of Dr. Lucy Hagenow's Many Victims

On March 16, 1905, 27-year-old seamstress Mary Putnam died at Chicago's Monroe Street Hospital from infection caused by an abortion. May had been brought to the hospital two days earlier, in critical condition, and the police were notified. The party responsible for Mary's death is noted as Dr. Lucy Hagenow, who did her abortions on her own premises and even had a preferred undertaker to haul away the bodies.

Hagenow and a man identified as F. E. MacCordy were arrested by the Coroner's Jury on March 16. MacCordy was president of the MacCordy cigar Company and lived in the same building with Mary. He was about 40 years old.

Louise Derchow, Annie Dorris, Abbia Richards, and Emma Dep in San Francisco, would go on to be linked to over a dozen Chicago abortion deaths:

Dr. Lucy Hagenow

• 1891: Minnie Deering
• 1892: Sophia Kuhn and Emily Anderson
• 1896: Hannah Carlson
• 1899: Marie Hecht
• 1906: Lola Madison
• 1907: Annie Horvatich
• 1925: Lottie Lowy, Nina H. Pierce, Jean Cohen, Bridget Masterson, and Elizabeth Welter
• 1926: Mary Moorehead

1899: "Life of the Mother" Defense Falls Flat

Harriet "Hattie" Reece was a 25-year-old primary school teacher in Browning, Illinois. Her husband, Frank, was also a teacher and principal at the school where Hattie taught. They had been married two and a half years in 1899, when the events unfolded that ended Hattie's life on March 16. And the finger pointed at Dr. James W. Aiken, who seemed to be a bit of a George Tiller precursor -- somebody who would find a "life of the mother" case in any pregnancy. But unlike Tiller, Aiken couldn't just buy his way out of trouble. He was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years.

1875: Bright Prospects Cut Short

On March 16, 1875, aspiring opera singer Annie Curtis, age 28, died in New York from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Annie Ihl. Her sad story, with many ups and downs over her short life, is long and complex, and can be read in its entirety here.

1869: A Wife's Final Secret and a Change in the Law

On March 16, 1869, Magdalena Philippi died in New York of pelvic infection caused by an abortion performed on her, evidently, by 48-year-old French immigrant Dr. Gabriel Wolff. Her husband, George, said that his wife had told him about the pregnancy about three weeks before her death.'

She had been attending to her usual household chores and helping out in the saloon until March 1, when, George said, she went to see a doctor. She began to feel unwell that evening and went home early. When George got home he found her in bed and suffering from abdominal pain. She told him that she'd gone to Dr. Wolff, saying that she felt too sick to have another child, so he had given her some medicine "to rid herself of it."

Wolff had said that she'd "feel badly for three or four hours" but would quickly recover. When morning came and Magdalena was still sick, George wanted to call in a different doctor, but Magdalena refused. Wolff made several visits to his patient over the ensuing days, trying one useless remedy after the other, including leeches and mustard plasters, none of which could save Magdalena.

Although Magdalena was four or five months pregnant, prosecutors had no way of proving that she had felt movement in the fetus, so they could not prosecute Dr. Wolff. The next day, a bill was introduced in Albany to eliminate the quickening distinction in prosecuting abortion cases. This would make it easier to prosecute abortionists like Wolff.

Early 20th Century Midwives in Chicago

Contrary to popular belief, the abortions before legalization were not typically of the coathanger variety. Most were performed by medical professionals. This was especially the case in Chicago, where midwives and physicians competed for customers.

Today's anniversaries are two of those dad deaths.

On February 9, 1913, 30-year-old milliner Elizabeth Spalding died at Rhodes Avenue Hospital in Chicago of septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by midwife Caroline Sandberg. Sandberg was tried but acquitted on July 9.

On February 9, 1911, 47-year-old homemaker Elizabeth Martin died at German American Hospital in Chicago from sepsis caused by of an abortion perpetrated at 1310 Eddy Street. Mrs. Schutner, identified as a midwife (which means she might have been an obstetrician) was held by the Coroner's Jury and indicted, but the case never went to trial.

Deadly Abortions, 1884-1994

An Unnamed Chicago Doctor, 1884

On May 11, 1884, a young woman who had given her name as Alice Brown died at the Chicago residence of Mrs. R. A. Hough. She was identified as 20-year-old Lottie Hudson of Austin, Illinois. She had gone to Chicago to live with a man identified as C. O. Owen, "a printer who already had a wife and family." He was boarding with Lottie's mother, Mrs. Hudson, who had visited Lottie twice at Mrs. Hough's home during her illness. It was determined that Lottie had died from blood poisoning due to an abortion, believed to be perpetrated by a doctor whose name neither Lottie nor Mrs. Hough either could or would divulge.

Self-Induced in Chicago, 1915

Homemaker May Johnson, age 36, of Melrose Street in Chicago died on May 11, 1915 from a self-induced abortion "after advice from quack."

Sent Home to Die, New York, 1971

"Anita" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion. Anita was a 23-year-old mother of two when she traveled from Massachusetts to New York to take advantage of the law legalizing abortion. She was 22 weeks pregnant. On May 11, 1971 the doctor initiated a saline abortion by injecting a strong sterile salt solution into Anita's uterus.The idea was that the fetus would inhale and swallow the fluid, which would cause massive internal hemorrhaging and death. this would then trigger labor. Anita's doctor sent her home to expel the fetus. The next day, Anita was found unresponsive at her home. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She had bled to death.

Misdiagnosis Leads to Death, New York, 1981

A lawsuit filed by the father of Barbara Dillon, a 22-year-old college student, alleged that Barbara underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Dr. Mark Silver at Long Island Gynecological Group April 18, 1981. Barbara's father said that the pathology report identified placental tissue, but no fetal parts. This meant that something had gone wrong, and that Barbara needed medical care, but nobody contacted her to tell her this. Barbara suffered pain and bleeding from May 5. She went to the emergency room and was treated with antibiotics and advised to see her family doctor. She was in severe pain later that day, so her roommates called the emergency room again. They were told to give the antibiotics more time.

Barbara's pain did not abate. On May 10, her roommates got a neighbor to take Barbara to the university health center. Barbara was unconscious upon arrival, with no respiration, blood pressure, or pulse, and was rushed to the emergency room. There were delays finding a doctor from the clinic who would aid the emergency room physician in addressing Barbara's symptoms. She went into irreversible shock and died on May 11. It turned out that Barbara had an ectopic pregnancy which the clinic had failed to detect. 

Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they're actually//more// likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners and the presumption that since they'd undergone abortions, pregnancy wasn't possible.

Another Saline Abortion Death, Brooklyn, 1992

"Melissa" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. Melissa was 27 years old and five months pregnant when she checked into Lutheran Medical Center of Brooklyn on May 1, 1992. For some reason, her doctor chose the dangerous and antiquated saline abortion procedure. She died of complications on May 11.

Screaming and Disoriented in Atlanta, 1994
Fifteen-year-old Sara Neibel went to the unsavory abortion facility Midtown Hospital in Atlanta for a safe and legal abortion at 17 weeks. She was given a clean bill of health and sent home. The next day, she reported a severe headache, sore neck, neck stiffness, and trouble seeing. Her parents began the drive to take her to the hospital. On the way there, Sara began screaming and behaving strangely. When they got to the hospital, she refused to get out of the car. She was disoriented and stuporous upon admission. Sara went into respiratory arrest, and was admitted to the ICU. She was pronounced dead May 11, 1994. The cause of death was determined to be Group B Streptococci Meningitis caused by infected amniotic fluid in her bloodstream. The autopsy performed on Sara found dead tissue and a fetal bone fragment in her infected uterus.

1984: Teen found dead by mother

On June 14, 1984, 14-year-old Germaine Newman had a second-trimester abortion performed by Dr. E. Wyman Garrett in Newark, New Jersey. She was 22 weeks pregnant.

After her abortion, Germaine began vomiting and suffered from abdominal pain and a high fever.
The next morning, June 15, Germaine's mother found her lying dead on the bathroom floor.

An autopsy found that Germaine's abdomen was full of pus and adhesions. The cause of death was abdominal infection and perforation of the uterus.

When the New Jersey medical board investigated Dr. Garrett, they noted that he had illegally altered Germaine's medical records.