Upload, Automoderated users, edit
101
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Copied the page I'd written at Wikipedia
'''Dr. George Lotrell Timanus''' was a [[physician]] who performed illegal [[abortions]] in the [[Baltimore]]/[[Washington, D.C.]] area from 1920 to 1951.<ref name="time">[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893984,00.html "Abortion in the U.S.", Time, June 2, 1958]</ref> Timanus was open about his practice, which catered primarily to affluent white women.<ref name="ljr">Leslie J. Reagan, ''When Abortion Was A Crime'', University of California Press 1997</ref><ref name="rs">Rickie Solinger, ''The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law'', University of California Press 1996</ref>
Timanus and one other abortionist performed an estimated 90% criminal abortions in Baltimore.<ref name="time"/>
In 1950, Timanus was one of the first illegal abortionists to try to use his own arrest to challenge the abortion laws in the United States, as Dr. [[Aleck Bourne]] had done in the UK, but his attempt was unsuccessful.<ref name="ljr"/><ref name="rs"/> He was fined $5,000, sentenced to six months in jail, and barred from further practice of medicine.<ref name="time"/>
Timanus participated in the [[Planned Parenthood]] Conference on Abortion in America in 1955. He gave a detailed breakdown of his patients, of whom he kept meticulous records. He then lamented that of the 353 doctors who referred patients to him -- some of them, Timanus claimed, with letters recommending abortion -- none stood up to testify for him when he was arrested.<ref>"Abortion in the United States. A Conference Sponsored by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Incorporated at Arden House and The New York Academy of Medicine", by Mary Steichen Calderone</ref>
Timanus asked referring doctors to make a written statement that the abortion was necessary because her life would otherwise be jeopardized.<ref name="time"/>
The breakdown of Timanus' patients was as follows<ref name="time"/>:
*Age 12 - 15: 17
*Age 16 - 20: 688
*Age 21 - 25: 1,834
*Age 26 - 30: 1,268
*Age 31 - 40: 1,312
*Age 41+: 91
<br>
*Single: 1,830
*Married: 2,773
*Widowed/Divorced/Separated: 607
<br>
*Physicians: 7
*Wives of physicians: 58
*Nurses: 270
<br>
Dr. [[Mary Calderone]], then Medical Director of [[Planned Parenthood Federation of America]], noted that Timanus "certainly seemed to be very competent and professional."<ref>"Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem," Mary S. Calderone, ''American Journal of Public Health'', July, 1960</ref>
According to Dr. [[Alan Guttmacher]], Timanus performed 5,200 abortions with only two maternal deaths -- a record Guttmacher noted as remarkable since Timanus largely practiced in the days predating [[antibiotics]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Abortionists]]
Timanus and one other abortionist performed an estimated 90% criminal abortions in Baltimore.<ref name="time"/>
In 1950, Timanus was one of the first illegal abortionists to try to use his own arrest to challenge the abortion laws in the United States, as Dr. [[Aleck Bourne]] had done in the UK, but his attempt was unsuccessful.<ref name="ljr"/><ref name="rs"/> He was fined $5,000, sentenced to six months in jail, and barred from further practice of medicine.<ref name="time"/>
Timanus participated in the [[Planned Parenthood]] Conference on Abortion in America in 1955. He gave a detailed breakdown of his patients, of whom he kept meticulous records. He then lamented that of the 353 doctors who referred patients to him -- some of them, Timanus claimed, with letters recommending abortion -- none stood up to testify for him when he was arrested.<ref>"Abortion in the United States. A Conference Sponsored by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Incorporated at Arden House and The New York Academy of Medicine", by Mary Steichen Calderone</ref>
Timanus asked referring doctors to make a written statement that the abortion was necessary because her life would otherwise be jeopardized.<ref name="time"/>
The breakdown of Timanus' patients was as follows<ref name="time"/>:
*Age 12 - 15: 17
*Age 16 - 20: 688
*Age 21 - 25: 1,834
*Age 26 - 30: 1,268
*Age 31 - 40: 1,312
*Age 41+: 91
<br>
*Single: 1,830
*Married: 2,773
*Widowed/Divorced/Separated: 607
<br>
*Physicians: 7
*Wives of physicians: 58
*Nurses: 270
<br>
Dr. [[Mary Calderone]], then Medical Director of [[Planned Parenthood Federation of America]], noted that Timanus "certainly seemed to be very competent and professional."<ref>"Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem," Mary S. Calderone, ''American Journal of Public Health'', July, 1960</ref>
According to Dr. [[Alan Guttmacher]], Timanus performed 5,200 abortions with only two maternal deaths -- a record Guttmacher noted as remarkable since Timanus largely practiced in the days predating [[antibiotics]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Abortionists]]