"Nevertheless, as the law now stands, a prudent practitioner will not expose himself to any risk, if a few precautions will save him. In the event of the death of the mother and child in such an emergency, the attending physician might find himself in jeopardy, with the imputation of gross carelessness and criminal neglect hanging over him, an imputation which requires years to remove. So the attending physician should never undertake to do an instrumental operation without these precautions: 1. The consent of the patient, with that of her husband or family. 2. Especially, a consultation with some other physician or physicians in whom there is full confidence. Attention to these simple and sensible safeguards, by making the conduct appear by its candor and openness in the strongest possible contrast with the secret methods of the abortionist, may save great embarrassment." The ethics of this doctrine is, of course, absurd, as has been shown, and it is cited here only to show how the civil law considers abortion. Wharton and Stille[102] give the same information in a more technical manner. "It is a general rule," they say, "independent of statute, that the act of a physician in aiding a miscarriage is not unlawful, where the miscarriage was the inevitable result of other causes. And the act is justified where the circumstances were such as to induce in the mind of a competent person the belief that a miscarriage was necessary to preserve the life of the mother. And the statutes of many of the States penalize the causing, or attempting to cause, an abortion, unless necessary to preserve the life of the woman, or unless advised by a designated number of physicians to be necessary for such purpose, the absence of both the necessity and the advice being an essential ingredient in the crime. The physician by whom the deed is done, however, cannot act as his own adviser in the matter. And an indictment under the statute must not only allege that the act was not necessary to preserve the woman's life, but must also negative the advice of physicians; and such averments cannot be inserted as an amendment after demurrer. [102] _Medical Jurisprudence_, vol. iii, sec. 526.