Doc Annie's guest appearances

Doc Annie

The Gateway

Show Me The State

A People's History of Kansas City

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Percy Green

OwlTail

Missouri residents may have heard ghoulish tales of “Doc Annie” Smith, a physician who performed illegal abortions in the early 1900s. Today, the truth about her work has largely disappeared.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - ‘Doc Annie’ and the last time Missouri banned abortions

This isn't the first time Missouri has banned abortions. Residents may have heard ghoulish tales of “Doc Annie” Smith, a physician who looms large in Missouri’s mythology for performing illegal abortions in the early 1900s. Today, the truth about her work has largely disappeared.

Unraveling the legend of Doc Annie

If you grew up in 1970s Poplar Bluff, you likely heard of the story of Doc Annie. Legend has it, Doc Annie was a witch-like woman who operated a haunted hospital in the woods. She kept fetuses in jars of formaldehyde there. She also would throw babies into an old well called “the pit.”