Thank you. While it's not the term I'm looking for, it's a perfect substitute, one that I may very well end up using instead if nobody comes up with the particular term I'm looking for and I can't come up with it myself. So, again, much appreciation, because I did not find this new term (new to me) in my searches.

@Benjamin Harman It would be best to allow for this answer in the question. While your constraint seems borderline, and this answer could well be useful to others, 'A word with 7 i's and 3 q's meaning 'averse to bubblegum' questions need discouraging.

Did I indicate anywhere I wouldn't allow for this answer? I don't think so since I've been of a mind that I may very well not just allow for it but even select it with a green check if the particular answer I seek isn't provided by anyone. If I were not to, which, again, I'm not saying I won't, it'd be because there's one salient difference between this answer and the particular answer I seek, that salient difference being the term my question specifically asks for conveys that it's a woman performing the abortion. This answer, while GREAT, falls short of conveying that key aspect at all.

The term angel maker was possibly only (if not, mainly) used for women per the historical evidence and the last source I've provided. Abortionist is a more general term that can be used for any gender. Perhaps, you might be thinking of midwife where they also performed abortions illicitly in the history (which I've mentioned in the answer). I've also found the term grace wife but it is another regional/historical term for a midwife. (Note: I've also thought of angel wife after angel maker but I couldn't find any evidence.)

OED provides the original sense of childwife as "a midwife" also but adds that is rare, historical.

It wasn't "midwife." Aside from already being aware of that term, I made the association with "midwife" after I googled it because it likewise ended in "wife." It was something like "quickwife," which I googled, but that's not it.

I do like angel maker but would still prefer the other term if I can find it since it makes it clear to the reader that it's a woman. If the term angel maker "was possibly only (in not, mainly) used for women" historically, it doesn't come across that way, not like a word that ends in "-wife" does. BUT I DO LOVE THE TERM ANGEL MAKER! It's a FANTASTIC term, one fraught with crystal clear imagery and superficially wonderful sounding while actually not wonderful but deeply laden with all kinds of old-timey judgment, so it's definitely a term to remember and pull out for the right occasion.

@Benjamin Harman 'Seeking old-fashioned term ending in "-wife" for a woman who performed abortions back when they were illegal and done in secret' / '... In it was used a term ending in "-wife" that I didn't understand the meaning of, so I googled it. When I did, I learned that it was an archaic term for a woman who in olden times, back when it was illegal, would discretely perform abortions. I do distinctly remember that it ended in "-wife" ... Whatever the case, if anyone knows what this old-fashioned term is and would please tell me what it is here as an answer' ...

precludes the answer 'angel maker' and could, probably should, encourage downvotes for the useful suggestion by ermanen. //// If a precise form of questions isn't maintained, all manner of irrelevant answers become more likely.

I'm not seeing any evidence of the "historical" use of angel maker to mean abortionist. Wiktionary doesn't give a source.

I googled it and looked at the Ngram. I didn't find a single example of this meaning in English. Having a similar term in other languages doesn't provide evidence it was used in English. Can you find an example?

Here, angel maker is used by someone with firsthand experience from the website of "Museum of Contraception and Abortion": muvs.org/en/topics/plight/… For relevant results, try searching in Google and Google Books --> "angel maker" abortion

Again, all the Google Books results that are speaking of abortionists are translations, mostly from French.

Jonathon Green confirms that "angel maker" is a borrowing from French in his book The Stories of Slang: Language at its most human.

This answer signals that you think the OP is addlepated. They heard [...]wife, but what was actually said was angel maker?

@TinfoilHat There can be a possible mix-up, perhaps because it may have been used along with "midwife" or something else. I've searched extensively and couldn't find anything ending with "-wife" with this meaning. Angel maker is the main term used for historical accounts and in every source I've found, other than "abortionist" which is a general term. The OP said they can consider this answer if no other word is found.

"Angel-maker, Angel maker, Angelmaker" does not appear in the OED. The existence of a similar phrase in French and German gives no authority to its being an English phrase. Absent research, I would be wary Green. Also 1881 The Western Magazine - Volume 5 - Page 78 “This Texas Central road has been dubbed by some of the Texas state papers as the Angel-Maker, from the frequency of wrecks owing to the dilapidated condition of the track. I am told that during the past winter they did not miss a day for five weeks in having a wreck, and at one time had five in one day.”

@ermanen. It is clear from both of your comments that you have misunderstood both my meaning and the quote. Your comment It is just a one-off usage is unsupported but also leaves open the question "Was Green's a single usage?" However, from the context of Google Ngrams "Angel Maker" is simply a term for someone or something that kills someone or something. It is not at all specific to abortionists.