Five Equally Dead

I have very scanty information about the January 20, 1846 death of Mary Ackerly of White Plains, New York. Mary was the illiterate, uneducated daughter of a poor family. So it was only natural that she would be won by the charms of Harry Nelson, "a person of considerable wealth and influence" who lived near Sing Sing, and who brought her to a brothel in New York and forced her to undergo the fatal abortion at the hands of Dr. Shove.

On or around January 20, 1909, Florence Wright, a 34-year-old Black woman born in Kentucky, died in Chicago from complications of an illegal abortion performed on January 3. Midwife Louisa Achtenberg, a white woman, was held without bail for the crime of murder by abortion. She was indicted for murder but the source document doesn't indicate that there was a trial. Achtenberg was implicated in three other Chicago-area abortion deaths.

On January 20, 1910, homemaker Elizabeth Lambacher, age 27, died in Chicago from an abortion. A nurse or midwife named Mrs. Hopp was indicted by a grand jury. The source document does not indicate that the case ever went to trial.

According to Life Dynamics, "Andrea" Roe was 26 years old when she underwent a newly legalized abortion at a New York City abortion facility on January 12, 1971. After her abortion, Andrea contracted an infection. Her system was unable to fight the infection, and she died on January 20, 1971, leaving behind six children.

Linda Fondren, age 21, had a safe and legal abortion performed by Mohammad Pourtabib at Pre-Birth in Chicago on New Years Day, 1974. She suffered bleeding, but Pourtabib did not provide follow-up care. Linda was admitted to Cook County Hospital, where doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and provided care until her death on January 20. She left behind a small child.