Margaret Marvin-Browning: Nurse convicted of giving Illegal Abortion

Margaret Marvin was born 16 Apr 1878 in Conway, Iowa and became a nurse to serve her community.


She was 52 years old when she was received at San Quentin. 





Inmate #54374 San Quentin, California
Rec: 27 Jun 1933
Term: 2-5 years
Crime: Abortion

She was paroled 19 Dec 1934 from Tehachapi Women's Prison.


Tehachapi, the original California Institution for Women, the first women’s facility in California, opened on the site of what is now CCI in 1932. The institution was "run for many years independently from the correctional system for men" but beginning in 1944 was gradually brought under the control of the California Department of Corrections. After the 1952 Kern County earthquake on July 21, "made the brick dormitories unsafe", the institution was closed and the 417 prisoners were sent to the new California Institution for Women in Corona.


Margaret was married first to James J Nelson and they had a daughter named Pearl Dorothy Nelson (1894-1975).

Second she married Shirley Neel Browning (1881-1953)










Margaret died in 3 May 1949 in Los Angeles County, CA.


One of the major problems was women were not being educated about birth control.  The rubber vulcanization process was invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839, and patented in 1844. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855, and by the late 1850s several major rubber companies were mass-producing, among other items, rubber condoms, 1950 While in her 80s, Sanger underwrote the research necessary to create the first human birth control pill. She raised $150,000 for the project. 1960 The first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as contraception.  1882 Dr C Hasse (pseudonym was Wilhelm Mesinga) credited with inventing the diaphragm. 1883 Aletta Jacobs, a Dutch doctor, described a vulcanised rubber cap. Known as the Dutch cap, it had an integral circular watch-spring and covered the upper vagina and cervix. 1957 The FDA approves the pill, but only for severe menstrual disorders, not as a contraceptive. An unusually large number of women report severe menstrual disorders. 1960 The pill is approved for contraceptive use.





Comments

  1. In your research, did you find any indication of Browning's motives for performing abortions? Was it out of a misguided sense of altruism or purely for monetary gain?

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  2. It was more like helping uneducated women. Women that went to her knowing full well what might happen. Unfortunately one died, one out of 500...We women still make these same choices today, the only difference is it's legal now in most states. Back then it wasn't. I have another post of a man doctor who was charged with manslaughter because he did the same thing and she died. I did not create my blog for political correctness or for moral reasons. I created it to tell their stories and that's what I am doing, rather they were right or wrong was a choice they made and I am sure God judged them, that's not my job. But I do appreciate you comment and it does make one think. Thanks so much for reading my blog.

    Gwen

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