Nauvoo Abortions
What is the evidence behind the so called Nauvoo abortions? Is it true that John C. Bennett could perform such medical prodecures? Could these procedures have anything to do with Joseph Smith not producing offspring with his polygamous wives?
Who was Dr. John C. Bennett?
“Who was Dr. Bennett? In the opinion of Governor Ford * he was the greatest scamp in the West. In his own conceit he was, if second to anybody, so only to Napoleon the Great. He was a physician, had some military knowledge, picked up God knows where, a towering ambition and a very keen sense of female beauty, or, to speak like a Mormon elder, for the blessings of Abraham, Jacob, Solomon and David. He thought he could use Joseph as a ladder to greatness, but Joseph used him as a tool, and when he had learned all the tricks of Bennett, he threw him away, as he did his first master and mentor, " my servant Sidney," as he did " that old granny, Martin Harris." Bennett lived eighteen months in Nauvoo, organized the new Mormon empire, wrote the charters of the city and procured their passage in the State legislature ; drilled the Nauvoo legion, practiced abortion for the prophet, treated professionally the maladies galantes of the high priesthood, helped Joseph to organize the criminal masonry of the endowment, in which he assumed the role of " Holy Ghost," was his accomplice in the attempted murder of Governor Boggs, and who knows in how many other schemes of this kind, and enjoyed the blessings of Isaac and Jacob, etc.” [Wilhem Wyl, 127-128].
"All decent people in Nauvoo," says Mr. K., "regarded Bennett as a perfect scoundrel." And he was the prophet's Pylades: was with him day and night! Mr. Webb says: "He was a very small, villainous-looking man. I hated him from sight. Ambition and women filled his soul." "He was full of low cunning and licentiousness," says Mrs. Pratt. Several well-informed witnesses tell me that he used to promise abortion to those females that objected to the "blessings of Abraham" on the ground of fear for the consequences. "I heard him preach against the Gentiles," said a lady of eighty-eight years to me. "He seemed raving mad. I said, ' The fellow is a devil,' but my friends warned me not to talk like that of the best friend of the prophet”
Hyrum Smith
Affidavit
27 July , 1842
On the seventeenth day of May, 1842, having been made acquainted with some of the conduct of John C. Bennett, which was given in testimony, under oath before Alderman G. W. Harris, by several females who testified that John C. Bennett endeavored to seduce them, and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was one of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the people was strong enough in faith to bear such mysteries—that it was perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day, to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify that there were such revelations and such commandments, and that they were of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their sins, if there were any, and that he would give them medicine to produce abortions, provided they should become pregnant. One of these witnesses, a married woman that he attended upon in his professional capacity whilst she was sick, stated that he made proposals to her of a similar nature; he told her that he wished her husband was dead, and that if he was dead, he would marry her and clear out with her; he also begged her permission to give him [her husband] medicine to that effect; he did try to give him medicine,but he would not take it. On interrogating her what she thought of such teaching, she replied she was sick at the time, and had to be lifted in and out of her bed like a child”
[The Wasp Extra, 27 July 1842]
Hyrum Smith
Affidavit
1842
On the seventeenth day of May, 1842, having been made acquainted with some of the conduct of John C. Bennett, which was given in testimony, under oath before Alderman G. W. Harris, by several females who testified that John C. Bennett endeavored to seduce them, and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was one of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the people was strong enough in faith to bear such mysteries—that it was perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day, to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify that there were such revelations and such commandments, and that they were of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their sins, if there were any, and that he would give them medicine to produce abortions, provided they should become pregnant. One of these witnesses, a married woman that he attended upon in his professional capacity whilst she was sick, stated that he made proposals to her of a similar nature; he told her that he wished her husband was dead, and that if he was dead, he would marry her and clear out with her; he also begged her permission to give him [her husband] medicine to that effect; he did try to give him medicine,but he would not take it. On interrogating her what she thought of such teaching, she replied she was sick at the time, and had to be lifted in and out of her bed like a child”
[History of the Church, Vol. 5, p.71]
William Law
Affidavit
30 March, 1887
[Wilhelm Wyl] “Did you ever hear of abortion being practiced in Nauvoo?”
[William Law] “Yes. There was some talk about Joseph getting no issue from all the women he had intercourse with. Dr. Foster spoke to me about the fact. But I don’t remember what was told about abortion. If I heard things of the kind, I didn’t believe in them at that time. Joseph was very free in his talk about his women. He told me one day of a certain girl and remarked, that she had given him more pleasure than any girl he had ever enjoyed. I told him it was horrible to talk like this”
Zeruiah N. Goddard
Testimony
31 August, 1842
“Mrs Pratt stated to me that Dr. Bennett told her, that he could cause abortion with perfect safety to the mother, at any stage of pregnancy, and that he had frequently destroyed and removed infants before their time to prevent exposure of the parties, and that he had instruments for that purpose, &c.”
Sarah Pratt
Testimony
Published 1886
Mrs. P.: "You hear often that Joseph had no polygamous offspring. The reason of this is very simple. Abortion was practiced on a large scale in Nauvoo. Dr. John C. Bennett, the evil genius of Joseph, brought this abomination into a scientific system. He showed to my husband and me the instruments with which he used to ‘operate for Joseph.' There was a house in Nauvoo, 'right across the flat,' about a mile and a-half from the town, a kind of hospital. They sent the women there, when they showed signs of celestial consequences. Abortion was practiced regularly in this house”
Mrs. H.
Testimony
Published 1886
Mrs. H.: "Many little bodies of new-born children floated down the Mississippi."
Bennett's Book & Instruments
Published in 1886
“Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., — this explains my having borrowed that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: "Oh, a little fob for Joseph, one of his women is in trouble.''' Saying this, he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the operation had been performed ; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.
Fawn Brodie
"No Man Knows My History"
“Bennett had seduced innumerable women in Joseph’s name quite without benefit of ceremony. Even worse, he had promised abortion to those who became pregnant. Zeruiah N. Goddard, repeating the gossip of Sarah Pratt, reported that “Dr. Bennett told her he could cause abortion with perfect safety to the mother at any stage of pregnancy, and that he had frequently destroyed and removed infants before their time to prevent exposure of the parties and that he had instruments for that purpose” [No Man Knows My History, Brodie, 311-312].
“Joseph had hoped that Bennett would slip out of Nauvoo into oblivion, but he had not reckoned with the man’s tenacity. Bennett prevailed on Brigham Young and Wilson Law to plead for him and did his best to placate Rigdon. Now Joseph was faced with a dismaying dilemma. Stories of Bennett’s depravity had seeped through the city, and if he was now restored to favor the prophet would be accused of countenancing abortion and prostitution. An outraged High Council was grilling Bennett’s closest friends, Chauncey and Francis Higbee, who justified their incontinence in the prophet’s name.f Denial and counterdenial only spread the flood of slanderous rumor that now ran wild through the city” [No Man Knows My History, Brodie, 313].
It was the prophet’s good fortune, however, that Bennett so egregiously overstated his case that it was possible to discredit him in the eyes of the Mormon people. Before many weeks Joseph had made Bennett’s name synonymous with licentiousness and betrayal. A Wasp extra published on July 27, 1842 declared him “a spoiler of character and virtue, and a living pestilence, walking in darkness to fester in Tils own infamy.” Aiiu a special pamphlet, Affidavits and Certificates Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters, denounced him for seduction, pandering, and abortion. Sarah Pratt and Nancy Rigdon here were publicly accused of being his mistresses” [No Man Knows My History, Brodie, 319].
“There can be no doubt that Bennett was an abortionist.”
Fawn Brodie
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