The Cadden case
The last instance of a trial in relation to carrying out an abortion was in 1956. The body of Ms Helen O'Reilly (30), from Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny was found by a milkman at 6 a.m., on April 18th, 1956. She was lying outside number 15 Hume Street, her legs slightly apart, a silk stocking tied loosely around her neck. She was five months pregnant.
Her death was to give rise to the trial of nurse Mary Anne Cadden (57), a nurse who provided back-street abortion services in a room in Dublin.
At nurse Cadden's trial for murder, which began on October 19th, 1956, the State said it would prove Ms O'Reilly died "while an illegal operation was being performed on her by the accused woman".
From nurse Cadden's room at number 17 Hume Street, gardaí had recovered "all the instruments necessary for the purpose of carrying out an operation of the type carried out, and on one - a forceps - bloodstains were found". A Higginson syringe, two specula - instruments used to dilate the birth canal - and a surgical clamp were also found. Over 80 witnesses were called to give evidence in the trial which lasted about a week.
She was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. However, she was sent to the Central Mental Hospital and died there some years later.