Lillian McCulloughnewyork, teens, 1920s, illegaldoctorAmidst the coverage of Edith Green’s death is a news snippet noting that Dr. James P. A. Nolan of Brookline, MA was arrested for the criminal abortion death of 18-year-old Lillian McCullough.
According to one article, within three hours of Lillian’s death, “the police had arrested the physician and Richard A. King, 21, and Mrs. Abbie M. Graham, 37, both of Waltham, as accessories.”
One more note: Lillian’s abortion was evidently typical of pre-Roe abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with overall 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.
In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.
For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Sources: New York Times 7/14/26, 7/15/26, 7/16/26, 7/20/26
- 1900s
- 1910-1919
- 1920s
- 1930s
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
- 1980s
- 1990s
- 19th century
- 2000-2009
- 20s
- 30s
- 40s
- NAF
- abortifacient
- abortion
- abortion mill
- abortion mortality
- abortionists
- abortionists — female
- abortionists — male
- alabama
- anesthesia
- arizona
- black women
- botched abortion
- california
- chicago
- colorado
- connecticut
- cover-up
- death
- deaths
- deception
- delay in transport
- delay in treatment
- district of columbia
- dumped body
- ectopic
- embolism
- falsifying forms
- fetal indications
- florida
- former criminal abortionist
- george tiller
- georgia
- hemorrhage death
- hospitals
- illegal – doctor
- illegal – midwife
- illegal – nurse
- illegal – paramedical
- illegal – post roe
- illegal – unknown
- illegal – untrained
- illegal abortion
- illinois
- inadequate documents
- inadequate equipment
- inadequate resuscitation
- incomplete abortion
- indiana
- infection
- kansas
- legal abortion
- llinois
- louisiana
- maryland
- massachusetts
- maternal indications
- maternal mortality
- michigan
- mills
- missouri
- mortality
- national abortion federation
- new jersey
- new mexico
- new york
- north carolina
- ohio
- oklahoma
- pennsylvania
- planned parenthood
- pre-roe legal
- previous misconduct
- prostaglandin
- quackery
- questionable stories
- ru-486
- rupture
- saline
- secret abortion
- self-induced
- suicide
- teens
- texas
- wisconsin
Recent Comments