Naomi Congdon, was 21 years old. She was the wife of a sailor stationed in Norman, Oklahoma. On July 27,1943, She was examined and noted she was pregnant. She told her husband she wanted "to do something" about her pregnancy. She tried to abort by ingesting turpentine but threw it back up. Her husband was against the idea of abortion, on August 16 he found a note from her, letting him know that she was at the home of Mrs.Lena Griffin Smith, a 63- year old, maternity nurse in Oklahoma City . As he went there he found his wife in great pain. He looked for doctors at the naval base, who told him to take his wife to the emergency room. The police entered Ms.Smith's place finding a woman recuperating from an abortion, and another woman arriving for a "treatment". Smith had gone to medical school for two years, came clean and said that her and a nurse had been operating an abortion business for 15 years. Meanwhile a doctor examined Naomi and found that she had a fever of 103 from an infection that started in the uterus. He prescribed sulfa-drugs and blood transfusions but Naomi died of septicemia on August 28. Smith was charged with first degree man-slaughter.
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