On November 6, 1923, Mrs. Agnes Wendt died at Chicago's St. Anne's Hospital from complications from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Irene Wagoner was exonerated by the coroner, but nevertheless indicted for murder in Agnes' death. Agnes' abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. In fact, due to improvements in medical care and in addressing overall public health problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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