| Elise Stone, Illegal Abortion Death | |
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I learned about Elise‘s sad end while looking for memorials for the unborn at Find-a-Grave. Evidently Colby Weaver, who is interested in old graves, was intrigued by the inscription on another woman‘s headstone: &quo;Murdered by Human Wolves.&quo; He tracked down a newspaper article on that woman‘s death by criminal abortion, and there learned of this earlier victim. The Seminole County News in Oklahoma reported that Elise Stone went to the practice of Dr. A. H. Yates on August 15, 1917, for a &quo;criminal operation.&quo; Elise remained there for three or four days before being sent home, where she died. On her death certificate, her death was attributed to &quo;congestive chill.&quo; But concerned citizens complained to the County Attorney, A.G. Nichols. Nichols ordered an autopsy and thus the real cause of her death was discovered. Elise's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was 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 information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.
Source: Find-a-Grave
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
