Jane Elizabeth Hodgson
Encyclopedia
Jane Elizabeth Hodgson was an American
obstetrician and gynecologist. She is the only person ever convicted in the United States of performing an abortion
in a hospital. Hodgson received a bachelor's degree from Carleton College and her M.D.
from the University of Minnesota. She trained at the Jersey City Medical Center and at the Mayo Clinic. Hodgson's 50 year career focused on providing reproductive health care to women, including abortions. She opened her own clinic in St Paul, Minnesota and co-founded the Duluth Women's Health Center. In addition to providing medical care to women, Hodgson was also an advocate for women's rights, challenging state laws that restricted access to abortion.
from Carleton College
in 1934 and her medical degree from the University of Minnesota
in 1939. Hodgson met her future husband, Frank W. Quattlebaum, when they were both interns in Jersey City, New Jersey
. Together they completed their medical training at the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota
. They both gave time and talent to Project Hope
, serving in Tanzania
, Peru
, Ecuador
, Egypt
, Grenada
, and China
.
Hodgson eventually opened her own clinic in St Paul, Minnesota in 1947, and for the next 50 years provided reproductive health care to women. Her early research included pregnancy-testing methods and in 1952 she became a Founding Fellow of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In 1981 Hodgson co-founded the Duluth Women's Health Center.
Hodgson's opinion of abortion was influenced by both the women she cared for in her own practice, and by those she met on her many trips she took with her husband to the third world during the 1950s. She later told an interviewer: "My position on abortion evolved. I had been taught that abortion was immoral. I gradually came to change, I came to feel that the law was immoral, there were all these young women whose health was being ruined, whose lives were being ruined, whose plans had to be changed. From my point of view, it was poor medicine, it was poor public health policy." She was, however, optimistic about the future: Pulitzer prize
winner Linda Greenhouse
cited an article in the Mayo Clinic alumni magazine in which Hodgson predicted: "Someday, abortion will be a humane medical service, not a felony." Hodgson summarized her opinion of the medical profession and abortion in a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association
: "Lest we forget—legal, competent, medical professionals are all that stand between safe health care for women and the dark days of the back-alleys. We in medicine have a moral obligation to provide that health care."
's Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award in 1981, the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America’s Margaret Sanger
Award in 1995, and the American Medical Women's Association
’s National Reproductive Health Award in 1994. She was one of the first physicians to be inducted into the International Women in Medicine Hall of Fame in 2001.
, which can cause serious birth defects
in the fetus
and child. The abortion, a dilation and curettage
(D&C), was performed at the St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital (now called Regions Hospital). At the time, abortion was illegal in Minnesota
, unless the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's health. Hodgson was charged, pled guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. This was the first time that a licensed physician had been convicted for performing a therapeutic abortion in a hospital. She appealed to the state supreme court which overturned her conviction after the pivotal Roe v. Wade
decision by the United States Supreme Court
. In response to her lawyer's question during her trial, "Do you regard the fertilized ovum as equivalent to a human person?" Hodgson replied, "No, and most women would not. We are more pragmatic than men, more concerned with reality. I'm concerned with the sacredness of life, but this is only a few embryonic cells." She continued, "We, as physicians, should be concerned with the quality of life as it develops."
In 1981, Hodgson lent her name to a suit (Hodgson v. Minnesota
) brought by Planned Parenthood
against Minnesota
, challenging that state's law requiring that both parents be notified at least 48 hours before a minor has an abortion. When the case was heard in District Court
, Hodgson testified that "...one 14-year-old patient, in order to keep her pregnancy private, tried to induce an abortion with the help of her friends by inserting a metallic object into her vagina, thereby tearing her body, scarring her cervix, and causing bleeding. When that attempt failed to induce an abortion, the patient, then four or five months pregnant, finally went to an abortion clinic. Because of the damage to the patient's cervix, doctors had to perform a hysterotomy
..." The United States Supreme Court upheld that law in 1990, in part because the law included a 'judicial bypass', allowing a judge to permit the abortion without parental notification. In most cases, judges permit the abortions.
Hodgson was in court again in 1993 as a co-plaintiff in a case in which the judge struck down Minnesota's ban on Medicaid
payments for abortions.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
obstetrician and gynecologist. She is the only person ever convicted in the United States of performing an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
in a hospital. Hodgson received a bachelor's degree from Carleton College and her M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from the University of Minnesota. She trained at the Jersey City Medical Center and at the Mayo Clinic. Hodgson's 50 year career focused on providing reproductive health care to women, including abortions. She opened her own clinic in St Paul, Minnesota and co-founded the Duluth Women's Health Center. In addition to providing medical care to women, Hodgson was also an advocate for women's rights, challenging state laws that restricted access to abortion.
Education and career
Hodgson received a bachelor's degree in chemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
from Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
in 1934 and her medical degree from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1939. Hodgson met her future husband, Frank W. Quattlebaum, when they were both interns in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. Together they completed their medical training at the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
in Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
. They both gave time and talent to Project Hope
Project Hope
Project Hope is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation and the Communist Youth League Central Committee. Started on October 30, 1989, it aims to bring schools into poverty-stricken rural areas of China, to help children whose families are too poor...
, serving in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Hodgson eventually opened her own clinic in St Paul, Minnesota in 1947, and for the next 50 years provided reproductive health care to women. Her early research included pregnancy-testing methods and in 1952 she became a Founding Fellow of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In 1981 Hodgson co-founded the Duluth Women's Health Center.
Hodgson's opinion of abortion was influenced by both the women she cared for in her own practice, and by those she met on her many trips she took with her husband to the third world during the 1950s. She later told an interviewer: "My position on abortion evolved. I had been taught that abortion was immoral. I gradually came to change, I came to feel that the law was immoral, there were all these young women whose health was being ruined, whose lives were being ruined, whose plans had to be changed. From my point of view, it was poor medicine, it was poor public health policy." She was, however, optimistic about the future: Pulitzer prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winner Linda Greenhouse
Linda Greenhouse
Linda Greenhouse is the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph M. Goldstein Senior Fellow at Yale Law School...
cited an article in the Mayo Clinic alumni magazine in which Hodgson predicted: "Someday, abortion will be a humane medical service, not a felony." Hodgson summarized her opinion of the medical profession and abortion in a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
: "Lest we forget—legal, competent, medical professionals are all that stand between safe health care for women and the dark days of the back-alleys. We in medicine have a moral obligation to provide that health care."
Awards and honors
Hodgson's advocacy for, and contributions to, the field of women's health earned her the National Abortion FederationNational Abortion Federation
The National Abortion Federation is an organization of abortion providers. Though originally a U.S. group, NAF has expanded to include practitioners in Canada and Australia as well as many European countries and Mexico...
's Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award in 1981, the Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
Federation of America’s Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
Award in 1995, and the American Medical Women's Association
American Medical Women's Association
The American Medical Women's Association is a professional advocacy and educational organization of women physicians and medical students. Founded in 1915 by Bertha VanHoosen, the AMWA works to advance women in medicine and to serve as a voice for women's health...
’s National Reproductive Health Award in 1994. She was one of the first physicians to be inducted into the International Women in Medicine Hall of Fame in 2001.
Abortion court cases
In 1970, Hodgson performed an abortion on a 23 year old married mother of three children who had contracted rubellaRubella
Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
, which can cause serious birth defects
Congenital rubella syndrome
Congenital rubella syndrome can occur in a developing fetus of a pregnant woman who has contracted rubella during her first trimester. If infection occurs 0–28 days before conception, there is a 43% chance the infant will be affected. If the infection occurs 0–12 weeks after conception, there is a...
in the fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
and child. The abortion, a dilation and curettage
Dilation and curettage
Dilation and curettage refers to the dilation of the cervix and surgical removal of part of the lining of the uterus and/or contents of the uterus by scraping and scooping . It is a diagnostic gynecological procedure.D&C normally is referred to a procedure involving a curette, also called sharp...
(D&C), was performed at the St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital (now called Regions Hospital). At the time, abortion was illegal in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, unless the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's health. Hodgson was charged, pled guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. This was the first time that a licensed physician had been convicted for performing a therapeutic abortion in a hospital. She appealed to the state supreme court which overturned her conviction after the pivotal Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
decision by the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. In response to her lawyer's question during her trial, "Do you regard the fertilized ovum as equivalent to a human person?" Hodgson replied, "No, and most women would not. We are more pragmatic than men, more concerned with reality. I'm concerned with the sacredness of life, but this is only a few embryonic cells." She continued, "We, as physicians, should be concerned with the quality of life as it develops."
In 1981, Hodgson lent her name to a suit (Hodgson v. Minnesota
Hodgson v. Minnesota
Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417 , was a United States Supreme Court abortion rights case that dealt with whether a state law may require notification of both parents before a minor can obtain an abortion. The law in question provided a judicial alternative.-Issue:The case concerned a Minnesota law...
) brought by Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
against Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, challenging that state's law requiring that both parents be notified at least 48 hours before a minor has an abortion. When the case was heard in District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
, Hodgson testified that "...one 14-year-old patient, in order to keep her pregnancy private, tried to induce an abortion with the help of her friends by inserting a metallic object into her vagina, thereby tearing her body, scarring her cervix, and causing bleeding. When that attempt failed to induce an abortion, the patient, then four or five months pregnant, finally went to an abortion clinic. Because of the damage to the patient's cervix, doctors had to perform a hysterotomy
Hysterotomy
A hysterotomy is an incision in the uterus, commonly combined with a laparotomy during a caesarean section. Hysterotomies are also performed during fetal surgery....
..." The United States Supreme Court upheld that law in 1990, in part because the law included a 'judicial bypass', allowing a judge to permit the abortion without parental notification. In most cases, judges permit the abortions.
Hodgson was in court again in 1993 as a co-plaintiff in a case in which the judge struck down Minnesota's ban on Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
payments for abortions.
Additional Resources
- The Jane E. Hodgson Papers, as well as records from the Minnesota Attorney General's office, are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.