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Article Evaluation

I am creating this page to observe the article Women in Medicine. The contents of this article are all relevant in that they relate to women in medicine. The author does a good job of giving a history of women in medicine as well as tying in the importance of this issue in modern times. Although they give good history of medicine, they fail to continue this thoroughness throughout the article. The subcategory of the Early Modern Era in the article has little information and could be heavily expanded. The author does a good job of creating a neutral article, and they have used good, valid sources as their references. Overall, the article offers insight into women in medicine throughout history and gives information for the public to be educated about.

Mary Anne "Mamie" Cadden

I have assigned myself the article on Mamie Cadden. To expand the existing article, I plan to add more information about Cadden's work as a midwife throughout Ireland, rather than a brief summary. Additionally, I plan to add information about her work as an abortionist and why it was so controversial in Ireland. Lastly, I want to add information about her convictions as a criminal, specifically her murder conviction, and how that impacted the end of her life. Mamie Cadden was trying to help women in Ireland with her work, and I want to exemplify that when contributing to her article. The laws of Ireland in this time were strongly against abortion, for the Catholic Church was largely involved with the State. I will explain this in the article and how it contributed to the underground work of Cadden throughout Ireland.

Below are some sources that I will be using to improve the existing article:

Mamie Cadden: Backstreet Abortionist

Mamie Cadden ad the Unlearned Lesson

The Irish Times

Dictionary of Irish Bibliography

Irish Medical Profession and Birth Control

The Book with 9,000 Lives and Mamie Cadden

Back Street Abortion in Ireland

No Better and No Worse: Irish Women and Backstreet Abortionists

This is the draft for my article:

Mary Anne "Mamie" Cadden

Mary Anne "Mamie" Cadden was born October 27th, 1891 in Scranton, Pennsylvania to the Irish parents of Patrick and Mary Caden. In 1895, Cadden and her family returned to Ireland in County Mayo, where she completed years of schooling. Once she obtained her spot on the list of licensed midwives in Dublin, she opened a series of maternity nursing homes to aid women with health issues and to perform illegal abortions. After a series of criminal convictions, Cadden lost her status as a licensed midwife. In 1944, Cadden was charged and convicted for the murder of 33 year old Helen O'Reilly. She was sentenced to life in prison, and after a year at Mountjoy prison, she was declared insane and moved to the criminal lunatic asylum Dundrum, where she died of a heart attack on April 20th, 1959.

Background

Childhood

Mamie Cadden was born Mary Anne Caden on October 27th, 1891 in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Patrick and Mary Caden. Patrick and Mary Cadden had met in America where Patrick worked as a miner. In 1895, upon the death of her paternal grandfather, Cadden and her family returned to County Mayo, Ireland. Her parents settled down, purchased a small family farm, and opened a grocery store on their land. There, her parents expanded the family and Mamie became the eldest of seven siblings and her father's favorite child. Cadden spent much of her early life on this farm, and continued to live there until she was 33 years old.

Education

While living in Mayo, Cadden and her siblings attended school from a young age. She attended Lahardane National School in Mayo until the age of fifteen, and was literate and spoke good Irish and English. After completing school, Cadden worked on her family's farm. Once many years had passed, Mamie realized she did not want to spent the rest of her life on the farm with her next youngest brother. She had always taken an interest in midwifery, and in 1925,shortly after her sister Theresa's death, Cadden sold her portion of her land to her father to finance her midwifery certification course. She completed her six month midwifery course at the National Maternity Hospital, St. Holles, in Dublin, and changed the spelling of her name 'Caden' to 'Cadden' upon her move.

Irish Culture and Health Care

During the time Mamie Cadden was entering the medical field in Ireland, the medical industry was dominated by Roman Catholic Irish men, and the Roman Catholic church and Irish political state were heavily intertwined. The Roman Catholic church wanted to ensure that medicine in Ireland became a Catholic stronghold against the perceived scheming of the lay people and lower classes. This stronghold of the Roman Catholic members, due to moral issues rather than medical issues, promoted issues within the Irish health care system, such as accessibility of contraceptives. In 1929, the Censorship of Publications Act of 1929 was put into place, which banned the sale of literature that advocated the use of birth control. This Act did not ban the access or sale of birth control, but it did, however, ban the access to information about contraceptives that would entice females to partake in its consumption. Birth control was officially prohibited in Ireland in 1935 and the prohibition lasted until 1979. Many believed that birth control would tarnish the work in prenatal clinics and mother and baby entities. The Irish Catholic hierarchy and it members of the medical profession remained involved in the medical industry in order to prolong the banning of the use of contraceptives, an act not necessary for maternal health. For many years, Catholic principles and Catholic professionals remained central to developments in the Irish medical scene. As a result, many women resorted to illegal abortions and contraceptives in order to decrease the chance of motherhood. These illegal medical actions often took place with the help of midwives, such as Mamie Cadden.

Midwife and Abortionist

The Early Career

After Cadden completed her schooling at the National Maternity Hospital, Cadden began working as a midwife. She first worked in the Alverno maternity nursing home on Portland Row in Dublin from 1927 to 1929. In 1929, Cadden opened her own maternity nursing home. Its name was Ranelagh, and it was operated from 1929 through 1931. Cadden's work became quite large, and her business outgrew her facilities. In 1931, she moved her enterprise to a different estate and became the owner of one of Dublin's most extensive nursing homes. Its name originally was 4 Ormonde Terrance, but it was later changed to St. Maelruin. Cadden was so good at her work that she hardly at to advertise her work. At St. Maelruin, Cadden gave help for health issues, pregnancies, illegal abortions, and foster care operations for unwanted children born at her estate. With the help of her cousin Molly O'Grady as her maid and help, Cadden would take responsibility for children for an adoption fee and place the child with a family for extended periods. This was only one of the operations she managed at her facility.

Working After Her First Conviction

After her first arrest for child abandonment, Cadden was removed from the registered midwives roll and was banned from aiding women in childbirth. When she was in prison, Cadden was forced to sell St. Maelruin as she faced a financial crisis from the legal stresses of her arrest. The home sold in May of 1939. After her release, Cadden started fresh. In 1941, Cadden re-opened her business on Upper Pembroke Street in an extensive basement suite. There she treated medical cases for males and females, performed enemas and hand massages, in addition to many other services. However, her main business was still providing abortions. After many years, Cadden moved her business to a flat on Hume Street. There she continued to perform the same type of work, and people even came to see her with dandruff, piles, baldness, and constipation. At this location, in 1956, the body of Helen O'Reilly was found just outside Cadden's building. O'Reilly had died of an air embolism that caused heart failure, and Cadden was arrested for her death. After her conviction of murdering Helen O'Reilly, Cadden was sentenced to death by hanging but was later reprieved by the government and sentenced to life in prison at Mountjoy prison. After a year at Mountjoy, Cadden was declared insane and transferred to the central criminal lunatic asylum, Dundrum. She died there on April 20th, 1959 of a heart attack.

Criminal Record

• 1939: Cadden was sentenced to a year in prison for child abandonment.
• 1945: Cadden was sentenced to 5 years in prison for an attempt to procure a miscarriage.
• 1956: Cadden was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of Helen O'Reilly. Helen O'Reilly died as a result of an air embolism. She was 5 months pregnant, and the death occurred during an abortion. Tools to perform the illegal operation were found in Cadden's flat on Hume Street. Police found a Higginson syringe, two specula - instruments used to dilate the birth canal - and a surgical clamp. Over 80 witnesses were called to give evidence in the trial, which lasted about a week.

Her Legacy

Mamie Cadden was known across Ireland for her underground work, her fiery spirit, and her ruthlessness. Her lack of docility and her stray from conventionality brought about the labeling of her as mad, which proved to be a historical trend. Although many people committed backstreet abortions during the period of Cadden's life, Cadden was the only person in Ireland to receive the death penalty for a death occurring as a results of an abortion.

As the most notorious Irish abortionist, the term 'Nurse Cadden' has become synonymous with evil. She challenged the Irish authority of her time and proved to be an example of standing by a business and cause. Because of her illegal work and continued persistence to carry out her work, Mamie Cadden has become an allegory for the skepticism of the modern Irish abortion laws. Now, in modern times, Cadden's name and work is used by commentators as conversation pieces to continue the discussion of Ireland's stance on abortion and contraceptives as their health care progresses.