Annie Robinson20s, 1900s, chicago, illinois, illegaldoctorSUMMARY: Annie L. Robinson, age 28, died at her Chicago home on August 18, 1901 after an abortion attributed to a doctor or midwife named Teresa Muenster.

Annie Robinson, a 28-year-old homemaker, died in her Chicago home at around 4:00 a.m. on August 18, 1901. About ten days earlier she confessed to her husband, George, and her mother, Mary Schroeder, that she was suffering from the effects of a criminal abortion.

George told the family doctor, H. I. Hook, and he recommended that George notify the police. It had been Hook who notified authorities about Annie’s death.

After his wife died, George went to the police. “I had no idea that my wife had visited Mrs. Muenster,” he said, “and until she knew that she was dying she kept the matter a secret from me. When she learned that she was about to die she called to her bedside her mother and myself. She declared that she had visited the Muenster woman three times, and that the midwife was responsible for her condition. She told us, moreover, that her brother’s wife, Caroline Schroeder, who died two years ago, had been a patient of the Muenster woman, and that the second treatment by the midwife proved fatal to her. I am determined to see that justice is done and that somebody shall pay for the death of my wife.”

Muenster, about 60 years old, had been a practicing Chicago midwife for 30 years.

George, a cashier at a streetcar company, was left to care for their two small children. Dr. Muenster was arrested that day, and she was held by the Coroner’s Jury.

Mrs. Robinson’s abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Note, please, that with ordinary public health 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 about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.

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

Sources:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive
• “Midwife is Held on Serious Charge,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 19, 1901

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1. 1900s
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