Book sheds light on Dr. Robert Spencer, 'Angel of Ashland'

Mar. 3—POTTSVILLE — Well-liked in his day as a friendly, reliable family doctor, Robert D. Spencer is perhaps best-remembered today for his work as an abortionist.

The doctor, also known as the "Angel of Ashland," is believed to have performed up to 100,000 abortions from the 1920s through the '60s in his practice at 531 Centre St., Ashland, long before the procedure was legalized with the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.

As his renown became greater in circles around the community, women often traveled long distances from around the country, and sometimes overseas, to receive the procedure, which the doctor often performed in the early morning hours before his facility's 9 a.m. opening.

Spencer's life and career were the topic of discussion at a T-102 Local Reads Book Club meeting Wednesday at the Schuylkill County Historical Society. The group discussed "The Angel of Ashland: Practicing Compassion and Tempting Fate," a book about the late doctor written by Minersville native Vincent J. Genovese.

The meeting, which drew about a dozen participants, including moderator, T-102 DJ Kasey Owen, illuminated the doctor as an intelligent man with deep compassion who was often on the cutting edge of medical technology.

"I was surprised by how together he was and how up on these modern advancements he was," Owen said.

Spencer was born in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Williamsport.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1915, he served in the Army Medical Corps during World War I from 1917 to 1918.

His career ultimately brought him to Ashland. After working as chief pathologist of the former Ashland State Miners' Hospital, Spencer opened his private practice, which he operated from 1925 until his death in 1969.

Spencer settled with his family in a home at 31 S. Ninth St., a few blocks away from his office.

"Some people I've talked to ... think that Dr. Spencer was one of the first people to really believe that women could make their own choices, whether you agreed with their choices or not," Owen said. "He was one of the first people who actually viewed women as a standalone human being, and not just the property of their husband, or boyfriend or father."

Owen said Genovese's book is "very well-written" and that it focuses on providing an accurate, unbiased account of Spencer's career.

"It didn't try to sway you one way or another," she said. "It's like, 'Here's the facts, you make your own decisions.' And I think that's how Dr. Spencer operated. He had a placard on his wall saying, 'If you think that what you're about to do is wrong, don't do it.' "

As a general practitioner, Spencer was revered by many for his knowledge and application of innovative treatments, particularly for black lung disease. A pioneer in the technique of bronchoscopy, he devoted special attention to the plight of coal miners, often treating them at the sites of mine accidents.

"It's really interesting, all of the medical advancements that he was working on in his office," Owen said. "He had the first tube scopings, where he would go down and rescue all these things from people's stomachs and lungs."

"He was far ahead of his time," said Frank Rice, 74, of Ashland.

Although abortion was strictly illegal during Spencer's career and many disapproved of his practice, he never got into legal trouble.

Many of the neighboring businesses benefited from the extra revenue from Spencer's out-of-town patients.

"Everybody sort of just turned a blind eye to what was happening," Owen said. "It was like, 'Well, it's making us money, so we're not really going to say anything.' "

Spencer originally charged $5 for each abortion and, through the end of the 1960s, never charged more than $200, which was well below the going rate for the procedure at the time.

Spencer was known as a generous, hospitable care provider, capable of putting all guests at ease. According to The New York Press, he built facilities at his clinic for Black patients who could not obtain overnight lodgings elsewhere in Ashland.

"He was one of the better ones out there," Rice said. "Far advanced for his time."

Owen said that after Spencer died Jan. 21, 1969, many local and national news outlets published expansive obituaries alluding to his abortions. The sole exception was the local newspaper, the Pottsville Republican, which ran a comparatively ordinary piece with no mention of the procedures that made him famous.

"I was very pleasantly surprised to read (the book) and realize what an interesting person he was," Owen said. "Abortion aside, he really did a lot of good for families and miners here in Schuylkill County. I think it's a shame that because he did the illegal abortions, we've kind of thrown all of that other history away when he was really on the brink of some of the most technological advances in medicine."

Contact the writer: hlee@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6085