Catherine Lepère (1601–1679) was a French

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

. She was an associate of

La Voisin Catherine Monvoisin, or Montvoisin, née ''Deshayes'', known as "La Voisin" (c. 1640 – 22 February 1680), was a French fortune teller, commissioned poisoner, and professional provider of alleged sorcery. She was the head of a network of for ...

and one of the accused in the famous

Poison Affair The Affair of the Poisons (, ) was a major murder scandal in France during the reign of King Louis XIV. Between 1677 and 1682, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcr ...

. Lepère was a licensed midwife who had delivered La Voisin's own children. She performed

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

s for clients remitted to her by La Voisin. Lepère was arrested in 1679, as were many other associates of La Voisin, after having been pointed out by Marie Bosse. She admitted having performed abortions, which were illegal at the time, but pointed out that she had prevented many scandals involving upper class ladies by doing so, and that she considered that she had performed a community service. She received her clients from La Voisin, who took almost all the profit. Marie Bosse claimed that fetuses who had been aborted late in the pregnancy were burned in an oven at La Voisin or buried in the garden of La Voisin, but this was never investigated and therefore unconfirmed, as Louis XIV had given the order that the part of La Voisin's enterprise which had to do with abortions should not be pursued further. Lepère was sentenced to death for abortion on 11 August 1679. She was also sentenced to be tortured, but because of her advanced age, she was merely fastened in the torture device without it being put to actual use, as there was a fear that she would die of the torture rather than the execution if the torture was actually applied. She was executed by hanging.

In fiction

Catherine Lepère is portrayed in a novel by

Judith Merkle Riley Judith Merkle Riley (January 14, 1942 – September 12, 2010) was an American writer, teacher and academic who wrote six historical romance novels. Biography Judith Astria Merkle was born in 1942 and grew up in Livermore, California. Her grea ...

: ''The Oracle Glass'' (1994).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepere, Catherine 1601 births 1679 deaths French midwives Executed French people 17th-century executions by France Executed French women French abortion providers People executed by France by hanging 17th-century French criminals 17th-century French businesspeople 17th-century French businesswomen People associated with the Affair of the Poisons