ON CRIMINAL ABORTION IN AMERICA. BY HORATIO R. STORER, M.D., OF BOSTON. MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. “And let the legislator and moralist look to it; for as sure as there is in any nation a hidden tampering with infant life, whether frequent or occasional, systematic or accidental, so sure will the chastisement of the Almighty fall on such a nation.”—GRANVILLE, _on Sudden Death_. [From the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, January to November, 1859.] PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1860. TO THOSE WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, PHYSICIAN, ATTORNEY, JUROR, JUDGE,—AND PARENT,— These Pages ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. CONTRIBUTIONS TO OBSTETRIC JURISPRUDENCE. NO. I. CRIMINAL ABORTION. _By the Common Law and by many of our State Codes, fœtal life, per se, is almost wholly ignored and its destruction unpunished_; abortion in every case being considered an offence mainly against the mother, and as such, unless fatal to her, a mere misdemeanor, or wholly disregarded. _By the Moral Law_, THE WILFUL KILLING OF A HUMAN BEING AT ANY STAGE OF ITS EXISTENCE IS MURDER. In undertaking the discussion at length of this subject, three preliminary facts must be assumed:— _First._—That if abortion be ever a crime, it is, of necessity, even in isolated cases, one of no small interest to moralist, jurist, and physician; and that when general and common, this interest is extended to the whole community and fearfully enhanced. _Secondly._—That if the latter assumption be true, both in premise and conclusion, neglected as the crime has been by most ethical writers and political economists, hastily passed over by medical jurists,[1] and confessedly everywhere the great opprobrium of the law, often indeed by taunt that of medicine, either it cannot in the nature of things be suppressed, as by these facts implied, or its suppression has not been properly attempted. Discarding the former of these alternatives as alike unworthy of belief and proved false by facts hereafter to be shown, it will appear, _Thirdly._—That the discussion now broached is neither supererogatory nor out of place; further, that it is absolutely and necessarily demanded.