Jessie Matteson1900s, chicago, illinois, illegaldoctorAt 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, 1901, Jessie Wing Matteson, a 22-year-old homemaker, died from an illegal abortion in Chicago. She had been sick for about a week.

Jessie’s husband, Guy, was arrested, as was Dr. J.B. Butts, who was held by Coroner’s Inquest on May 16. Jessie and Guy had only been married since the previous Thanksgiving. Guy was described in the Belvedere Daily Republican as “connected with a Chicago publishing house.”

Jessie was a 1899 graduate of South Belvidere High School. She was a teacher in the Witbeck and Hicks schools prior to her marriage.

Butts held that while he did perfrom an abortion on Jessie, he had only done so because she had health problems that would have made childbirth dangerous. During their trial, the judge dismissed the charges against both Jessie’s husband and Dr. Butts on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.

Jessie’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
• “Funeral Sunday,” Belvidere (IL) Daily Republican, 15 May, 1901
• “Cut Down in Youth,” Belvedere (IL) Daily Republican, 16 May, 1901
• “Not Guilty,” Belvidere (IL) Daily Republican, Jun. 27, 1901
• “Note Book Briefs,” Rockford (IL) Republic, Jun. 28, 1901
• “Case is on Trial,” Belvidere (IL) Daily Republican, Jun. 27, 1901
• “Murder Charge Cancelled,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, Jun. 28, 1901

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