Mary Kakacek1890s, chicago, illegalmidwife, illinois, 19thcenturySUMMARY: On September 23, 1899, 29-year-old Mary Kakacek died from complications of an abortion perpetrated in Chicago by midwife Annie Stanek.

On Sunday, September 24, 1899, police stopped the funeral procession of 29-year-old Mary Kakacek. Her body was taken for an autopsy. The coroner’s jury concluded that Mary’s death in her home the previous day had been due to a criminal abortion perpetrated by midwife Annie Stanek.

During her final illness, Mary had made a dying statement telling of her visits to Stanek, stating that she was treated harshly by the midwife.

Stanek was held without bail by the Coroner’s Jury.

Mary’s use of a midwife was typical of Chicago illegal abortions of the era, that were frequently perpetrated by medical professionals.

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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
• “Coroner Holds a Midwife,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, Sept. 26, 1899

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