Margaretta Velth

Margaretta Velth1870s, infection, newyork, illegalunknown, 19thcenturyMargaretta Velth died in Mr. West’s Brooklyn house on August 16, 1876, from peritonitis caused by an abortion.

Dr. Thomas Finnell performed a post-mortem examination and determined that she had “been relieved by an abortion of a three or four months old foetus. He also stated that he could form no opinion as to how the abortion had been performed.”

The degree of inflammation led Finnell to believe that instruments of some sort must have been used.

“Charles T. Morrell testified that the girl had lived at his house until August 8. Then she was sent away because his wife believed her to be pregnant. Other testimony showed that she went to Mr. West’s on August 10 and then the operation had been performed.

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

MargarettaVelthAllegedDeath.pngSources:

  • “Alleged Death from Malpractice”, Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 29, 1876

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Filed under: Victims - @ 12:54 am