An Illegal Operation

First, a word of warning. If you cannot stand reading about controversial topics, unpleasant events, tragedy and death, I'll ask that you stop reading now. This post is about the death of my grandmother's sister. I knew she died young and I had heard rumors about the cause. Someone recently posted newspaper articles about the trial that followed, which confirms what I had heard was the truth. Someone posted about her death in the West Point, Iowa community Facebook group a few years ago and another person commented that they had "heard about her". I commented that I had also heard the rumor but that I would not comment about rumors or mention what they entailed. Now that these articles are out there and the rumor has been proven true, I will post about it, as unpleasant circumstance as it is.

Mary Cecelia Menke was born on August 15, 1910 to my great-grandparents, Johan Anton "August" Menke and Mary Harmeyer Menke. A transcription of her birth record at FamilySearch lists her middle name as Clara. She was the youngest of six siblings. My grandmother would have been 17 years old when she was born. In March of 1932, at the age of about 22 years old (the article states she was 21), Mary discovered that she had become pregnant with her boyfriend, Roy Bullard, who was a hired hand on the family farm. They called Dr. E. L. Trevitt of West Point and on Sunday, March 27, he confirmed that the young lady was pregnant. The doctor agreed to a payment of $10 to perform the operation, an abortion, which was illegal except to save the life of the mother. The young man made a partial payment and the operation was performed.

By Wednesday, Mary had developed a fever. She was tended to by Dr. Frank L. Poepsel, her first cousin. She died the following Monday. The articles don't mention it but the stories I had heard said she had died of sepsis, which would have been an infection from the wounds obtained during the procedure.

The headline states and the third paragraph provides detail that the court upheld the view of the defense and the doctor was declared not guilty due to the prosecution not proving that the operation was not to save the life of the mother.

You can read the full story in the articles below. Click and zoom in to read the large article. Suffice it to say that it pains me to finally read the story. It is sad that my grandmother's sister would lose her life in this way.

 

 Here is her death announcement. I've had this, her obituary, and her funeral announcement for a few years. Because they state she died of influenza, I did not want to talk about what I had heard she actually died from.

Note her headstone states she was born in 1909. I don't have her birth certificate yet so her exact age is not certain.

Any comments posted about or insinuating whether or not abortion should or should not be legal will be deleted.

--Matt