| Katherine Cross, Illegal Abortion Death | |
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I learned about Katherine‘s sad end while looking for memorials for the unborn at Find-a-Grave. Evidently Colby Weaver, who is interested in old headstones, was intrigued by the inscription on Katherine‘s headstone: "Murdered by Human Wolves." He gathered the following information. The Seminole County News in Oklahoma reported that Katherine died October 10, 1917, from a "criminal operation" performed by Dr. A. H. Yates and his assistant, a schoolteacher named Frederick O‘Neal. Katherine, who had been born in August of 1899, was 18 years old. Katherine was the second victim Yates was charged with murdering by abortion in as many months. Elise Stone had died in August. Katherine'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
