[1]: 178 The case began after one Sarah Ann Lovell, an unmarried teenager, was found dead in August 1879.
Stowe claimed she had first resisted performing an abortion, but Lovell seemed emotionally distressed and threatened suicide.
[1]: 164 Lovell could have been turned over to the authorities, however, Stowe wound up prescribing hellebore, cantharides, and myrrh.
While allegedly capable of aborting the fetus, Stowe claimed these drugs were prescribed in such a small dose that they were intended as a placebo.
[1]: 173 Afterwards, the Crown indicted Stowe for having "administered and caused to be taken poisons with intent to procure a miscarriage", which had been outlawed since 1869.