First U.S. physician convicted of illegally performing an abortion in a hospital dead at 91
Dr. Jane Hodgson, Minnesota's first female obstetrician and gynecologist, defied the state's abortion ban by performing the procedure in a St. Paul hospital in 1970. Hodgson was convicted, but the ruling was overturned after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Hodgson was born in Crookston in 1915, the daughter of a family physician, and graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. She also studied at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Hodgson developed abortion clinics in Minnesota and throughout the country, and traveled the world promoting public health. Derided by anti-abortion advocates, the Minnesota chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) named its reproductive freedom award in Hodgson's honor and Tim Stanley, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota and the Dakotas, called Hodgson "an international and national icon." She died on October 23 at age 91.
Sources: Legacy.com, Associated Press, WCCO.com
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