Agnes Pearson1940s, newyork, illegaldoctorSUMMARY: Agnes Pearson, age 34, died in New York on July 29, 1941 after an abortion attributed to Dr. Nathan Schwartz and Dr. Samuel Schwartz.

On July 29, 1941, 34-year-old Agnes Pearson of White Plains, New York died at Grasslands Hospital in New York of peritonitis caused by complications from an abortion. Agnes left two children motherless.

Dr. Nathan Schwartz, age 55, and Dr. Samuel Schwartz (not related), age 68, were charged with manslaughter in Agnes’ death. The Grand Jury heard evidence from Agnes’ husband, four hospital doctors, three nurses, state police, and a laboratory worker.

The charges were dismissed in 1946.

Agnes’s abortion was typical of pre-Roe abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Sources:

• New York Times 8-1-41, 5-9-46
• “20 Arraigned in County Court,” Mt. Vernon Daily Argus, September 11, 1941
• “Grand Jury Hears Operation Evidence,” Mt. Vernon Daily Argus, August 6, 1941
• “Squire to Probe Peritonitis Death,” The Yonkers Herald Statesman, August 1, 1941

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