Mormon Abortionist

There is also evidence that some of Smith’s plural wives had abortions performed by John C. Bennett (a physician), a Mormon, and a close friend and confidant of Smith’s for almost two years, from July 1840 to mid-May 1842. Mrs. Orson (Sarah) Pratt, a Mormon resident in Nauvoo, said one reason nobody really heard about some of Smith’s impregnated women was because his friend Dr. Bennett performed abortions for him. She reported that Bennett once showed her and her husband the instruments which he used to “operate for Joseph.” Not surprisingly, she branded Bennett “the evil genius of Joseph.” Her abortion testimony was later corroborated by William Wyl (von Wymetal), a German newspaper reporter. He also learned that Bennett performed abortions for the founder of the Mormon church. Sarah Pratt stated that there was a house about a mile and a half from Nauvoo that functioned as “a kind of hospital.” She explained, “They sent women there when they showed signs of celestial consequences.” This house, according to Harry M. Beardsley, was a large brick mansion “fitted up by Bennett as an abortion hospital.

Alvin J. Schmidt, The American Muhammad: Joseph Smith, Founder of Mormonism,” pg.178. 

Update 3/6/20: See this post at Life After Ministry