An expose from 1947: Smashing Denver’s Abortion Racket!

In the early 1940s, Denver was considered the nation’s “abortion capital.” A new district attorney set out to shut it down.

Erica Meltzer

Feb. 11, 2017, 6:36 a.m.

In the early 1940s, Denver was considered the nation’s “abortion capital.” A new district attorney set out to shut it down with the help of a hard-bitten investigator.

I came across this clip in the files of the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection while researching the legalization of abortion in Colorado. The change in the law in 1967 was driven in part by the high toll that illegal abortion took, a toll that is described in great detail in this expose from 20 years earlier.

Most often, Frances Melrose wrote in the Rocky Mountain News, the women involved were wives, not “delinquent girls,” and this was a very tough crime to solve, as everyone involved had a strong incentive not to talk.

The investigators describe their questioning of dying women as “gentle but persistent.” Historians of abortion say that some investigators would withhold medical care from women until they named names.

This clip comes from the files of the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection. You can zoom in for a closer look.

An apartment building near Cheesman Park. May 7, 2020. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Denver metro’s average rent dropped by almost $18 toward the end of 2021. Here’s what you could buy with that

(Not a full tank of gas.)

Cebastian Gomez speaks to his North High School classmates protesting Denver Public Schools' COVID policies at Highland Park. Jan. 20, 2022.

North High School, Thomas Jefferson students walk out over district’s COVID-19 rules

Students are asking the district to provide high-quality masks, weekly testing and better access to remote learning.

The Park Hill Golf Course. Northeast Park Hill, Sept. 23, 2021.

Denver leaders axed Save Open Space from the committee working on the future of the Park Hill Golf Course

“It’s about as subtle as a heart attack,” said SOS Denver member Lisa Calderón.

Garbage and tons of birds atop the active dumping site. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, the landfill owned by Denver and operated by Waste Management. Jan. 26, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Paying for trash collection in Denver? The city has started getting serious about the idea.

Monthly fees would start at $9 a month for the smallest bins and up to $21 for the largest.

Fifty years in, Tattered Cover is still having growing pains

For some employees, the bookstore's expansion has meant more work with little reward.

Bannock Street Façade of Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art designed by Jim Olson of Olson Kundig. Featuring Bob Mangold’s 1982 Double Tetrahedralhypersphere No. 41 (mounted at left), and a view into the indoor and outdoor sculpture galleries at Kirkland Museum. Edgar Britton’s Yin and Yang bronze sculpture, 1964, is visible at center.

‘Josef Hoffmann’s Vienna’ brings the work of a modern design pioneer to the Kirkland Museum

The exhibit will highlight the work of the Austrian architect and designer who helped pioneer modern art and design in the 1900s.

A single banana in the produce section of the Safeway at Broadway and Alameda on January 18, 2022.

Safeway and other grocers see bare shelves as King Soopers strike pushes shoppers elsewhere

Supply chain issues aren't helping either.

M. holds his infant daughter in the home he now shares with the Cheverton family. Dec. 22, 2021.

The Afghan refugee crisis is still happening, and it’s spilling into Denver

Gretchen Cheverton has been getting hundreds of desperate messages every single day.

All of the 3,124 wrecks that took place on Denver streets with speed limits 25 miles per hour or lower in 2021, outside of downtown. There were 329 more in the Central Business District and Union Station neighborhoods that year.

Denverite Maps

So how many traffic “accidents” occured on Denver’s neighborhood streets in 2021? This many

Numbers show it's low-key scary to drive, ride or walk in Denver.

Charlie Fleming, AKA Diamond Starr, helps Aeshleigh Sheren learn their way around a wig during Fleming's Drag Teen-Tween Fashion class held in Stanley Marketplace's Factory Fashion. Jan. 13, 2022.

A new drag program at Stanley Marketplace for teens and tweens gives young people a fun, safe space for self expression

“Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of bigotry in this world, and there’s still a lot of kids who are disowned and hurt. Having a safe space to be yourself is just so important.”