Asunta LaRosa

Asunta LaRosanewyork, illegalnurse, 20sSUMMARY: Asunta LaRosa, age 30, died in her Yonkers, New York home on May 5, 1938 during an abortion being perpetrated by practical nurse Genevieve Horton.

AsuntaLaRosaMtVernonNYUndated.png
The Abortionist’s Plea

On May 5, 1938, Mrs. Genevieve Horton, a 38-year-old practical nurse, was being tried in an abortion case in Westchester County, New York. Breaking down, she changed her plea to guilty, weeping and asking the judge to grant her time before sentencing to arrange care for her children. The judge granted her tearful request, releasing her on $1,500 bail pending sentencing.

Back to her Grisly Work

At about 10:30 that very evening, Joseph LaRosa arrived home to find his wife, 30-year-old Asunta, in the kitchen with Horton. His wife suggested that he go to bed since he had to go to work early in the morning. Joseph went into the living room and settled down on the sofa to sleep.

About ten minutes later, Joseph later told police, Horton ran into the living room, calling his name. He went to the kitchen and found his wife lying unconscious on a blanket on the kitchen table. Horton started to run out of the house and Joseph tried to grab her to stop her, but she got away, carrying a rubber tube in her hand but leaving behind her purse.

An ambulance crew arrived and declared Asunta dead on the scene.

Joseph was left widowed to care for three children, ages 10, 8, and 2.

Police arrested Horton in her home at 6:30 the following morning. I have yet to be able to determine the outcome of the case.

Releasing Abortionists = Repeat Tragedy

Genevieve Horton’s evident inability to stop perpetrating abortions after being released by the judicial system is hardly unique. These repeat offenders have cost women their lives.

  • Over a period stretching from 1888 to 1926, Dr. Lucy Hagenow was repeatedly released, usually while pending new trials or prior to completing prison sentences, enabling her to have a total of 18 women’s abortion deaths laid on her doorstep.

  • In 1970, criminal abortionist Dr. Jesse Ketchum was released in Michigan. He headed straight to New York, which had just legalized outpatient abortion on demand, and in a six-month period he perpetrated lethal abortions on Margaret Louise Smith and Carole Schaner.

  • In 1984, while out on bail pending a new trial for strangling a live-born infant after an abortion, Dr. Raymond Showery performed a fatal abortion on Mickey Apodaca.

Sources:

  • New York Times 5-11-38
  • “Woman Held in Operation,” Mt. Vernon (NY) Daily Argus (date illegible on original)
  • “Woman Accused in Death of Yonkers Mother,” Yonkers Herald Statesman, 6 May, 1938

AsuntaLaRosaNYHeraldStatesmanMasthead.png

  1. 1900s
  2. 1910-1919
  3. 1920s
  4. 1930s
  5. 1940s
  6. 1950s
  7. 1960s
  8. 1970s
  9. 1980s
  10. 1990s
  11. 19th century
  12. 2000-2009
  13. 20s
  14. 30s
  15. 40s
  16. NAF
  17. abortifacient
  18. abortion
  19. abortion mill
  20. abortion mortality
  21. abortionists
  22. abortionists — female
  23. abortionists — male
  24. alabama
  25. anesthesia
  26. arizona
  27. black women
  28. botched abortion
  29. california
  30. chicago
  31. colorado
  32. connecticut
  33. cover-up
  34. death
  35. deaths
  36. deception
  37. delay in transport
  38. delay in treatment
  39. district of columbia
  40. dumped body
  41. ectopic
  42. embolism
  43. falsifying forms
  44. fetal indications
  45. florida
  46. former criminal abortionist
  47. george tiller
  48. georgia
  49. hemorrhage death
  50. hospitals
  51. illegal – doctor
  52. illegal – midwife
  53. illegal – nurse
  54. illegal – paramedical
  55. illegal – post roe
  56. illegal – unknown
  57. illegal – untrained
  58. illegal abortion
  59. illinois
  60. inadequate documents
  61. inadequate equipment
  62. inadequate resuscitation
  63. incomplete abortion
  64. indiana
  65. infection
  66. kansas
  67. legal abortion
  68. llinois
  69. louisiana
  70. maryland
  71. massachusetts
  72. maternal indications
  73. maternal mortality
  74. michigan
  75. mills
  76. missouri
  77. mortality
  78. national abortion federation
  79. new jersey
  80. new mexico
  81. new york
  82. north carolina
  83. ohio
  84. oklahoma
  85. pennsylvania
  86. planned parenthood
  87. pre-roe legal
  88. previous misconduct
  89. prostaglandin
  90. quackery
  91. questionable stories
  92. ru-486
  93. rupture
  94. saline
  95. secret abortion
  96. self-induced
  97. suicide
  98. teens
  99. texas
  100. wisconsin