It is a felony to procure or attempt to procure the
miscarriage of a woman, whether she be pregnant or not, and it is a
felony for the woman, if pregnant, to attempt to procure her own
miscarriage. It is a misdemeanour for any person or persons to procure
drugs or instruments for a like purpose. It is not necessary that the
woman be _quick_ with child. The offence is the intent to procure the
miscarriage of any woman, _whether she be or be not with child_. When
from any causes it is necessary to procure abortion, a medical man
should do so only after consultation with a brother practitioner. Even
in these cases there is no exemption legally. Any medical man who gives
even the most harmless medicine where he suspects the possibility of
pregnancy may render himself liable to grave suspicion should the woman
abort.
In medicine, an _abortion_ is said to occur when the foetus is expelled
before the sixth month; after that it is _premature birth_. In law,
however, any expulsion of the contents of the uterus before the full
time is an _abortion_ or _miscarriage_.
In deciding whether any substance expelled from the uterus is really a
foetus or a mole, and therefore the result of conception, or the coat of
the uterus, and unconnected with pregnancy, the examination of the
substances expelled must be carefully made.
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