Catharine DeBreuxal1850s, infection, illegaldoctor, newyork, 19thcenturySUMMARY: Catharine DeBruexal died on February 20, 1856 after an abortion likely perpetrated by Dr. Charles Cobel in New York.

An inquest was held in the February 20, 1856 death of Catharine DeBreuxal in New York.

A witness testified that Catharine suffered “a violent hemorrhage” at Dr. Cobel’s house, where she had remained for a few days. The medical examiner concluded that Catharine had died from an infection.

“An effort was made by the defense to show that the deceased was a woman’s bad character; but the evidence on that point was not admitted on account of its irrelevance.”

The coroner’s jury called for the arrest of Cobel, as well as of Francis Legoupil, as an accessory.

Cobel had been permitted to confront Catherine on her deathbed, challenging her and asking whey she had named him as her abortionist. She replied, “Because you operated on me.”

Cobel was acquitted in April because Catharine’s deposition was not taken formally before her death, and there was no further evidence that Cobel was the guilty party. He remained free to be charged with the abortion death of Amelia Weber two years later; he was later acquitted. He was also implicated in the deaths of Emma Wolfer in 1865 and
Antoinette Fennor in 1875.

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:

• “The Last Abortion Case“, The New York TImes, Feb. 23, 1856
• Untitled clipping, New York Tribune, Feb. 23, 1856
• “News of the Week,” NY Weekly Herald, Apr. 20, 1856
• “Legacy of Ignorance: Abortion and Journalism in the Early Republic,” Ralph Frasca
• “Court of General Sessions,” New York Tribune, Apr. 24, 1956
• Untitled clipping, Baltimore Sun, Apr. 26, 1856

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