Milan Vuitch

Dr. Milan Vuitch (January 15, 1915 - April 6, 1993) was a physician performing abortions in Washington, D.C. and Silver Spring, Maryland. Born in Serbia, he was a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Vuitch was born in Serbia to a peasant family. His father died when he was young, and his mother made a living growing potatoes and beans. Vuitch won a full scholarship to the University of Budapest, and received his medical degree in 1939. He served as a conscript in the Hungarian army during World War II.

After the war, he practiced surgery and gynecology in Skopje, where he was also an instructor at the medical school. He married American Florence Robinson and with her help was able to immigrate to the United States in 1955. He settled in the Washington, DC area, initially charging $100 to $200 for an illegal abortion.

In 1969,Judge Gerhard A. Gesell ruled that District of Columbia law was unconstitutionally vague because it permitted abortions only to preserve a mother's "life or health," without clearly defining those terms. Gesell wrote that the word "health" provided "no clear standard to guide either the doctor, the jury or the court." Gesell dismissed an indictment against Vuitch.

The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed with the ruling, holding that the standard was clear. But Justice Hugo Black, in the majority opinion, included language that limited enforcement of the D.C. law, as well as similar laws: "Health includes psychological as well as physical well-being." Black's ruling also changed how the law was to be enforced by shifting the burden of proof. Rather than being incumbent upon the physician to prove that the abortion had been medically necessary, Black put the burden on the prosecution to prove that the abortion had not been necessary. If the prosecution did not sufficiently prove that the woman's "life or health" was not in danger, a trial judge would be required to set aside a guilty verdict.

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