Augusta Boschen1870s, illegaldoctor, 19thcentury, chicago, illinoisSUMMARY: Augusta Boschen died on July 26, 1877 after an abortion committed by Dr. Muleck in his Chicago office.

On July 25, 1877, Augusta Boschen, wife of cooper John Boschen, left her Chicago home, telling her husband that she was going to the drug store.

Her husband waited until 4:00 the following morning to go look for her. He went out looking for her and learned that she had gone to the home and office of Dr. Muleck for the purpose of an abortion. John forced his way into the premises and found his wife lying dead on a bed.. He reported her death to the authorities.

Dr. Muleck fled to avoid arrest. Before leaving, he left a letter for his wife saying that he had not performed the abortion, but had just provided Augusta with the instruments, “she being so bashful and modest as not to allow him to do the work. When Augusta went into convulsions, he said, he’d concluded that she was going to die and skipped town. “The scoundrel of a doctor has not yet been caught, and hence the evidence was meagre.”

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I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can’t be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.

Note, please, that with 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 on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.

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

Sources:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive
• “Foolish, But Fatal,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, July 27, 1877
• “Criminal,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 28, 1977
• “The Coroner,” Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1877

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