| Dorothy Spuhr, Abortion Death | |
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On November 13, 1905, 18-year-old Dorothy Spuhr died in County Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed earlier that day. A woman named Julia Gibson, aka Timmons, was arrested and held by the coroner's jury. She was indicted, and attempted suicide by shooting on APril 6, 1906, in Michael Reese Hospital. Gibson's profession was given as "Abortion Provider", but not as midwife, nurse, or physician, so I'm guessing she was a professional lay aboritonist. Dorothy's abortion was atypical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was not performed by a physician. Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909. Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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