scarcely a physician's endorsement to make
plain to sensible persons the fact that successful abortions are
extremely rare. Indeed, the secrecy with which the infamous business is
carried on, shows that its practitioners are conscious of its
criminality. The laws of all the States punish the procuring of an
abortion with severe penalties. That of the State of New York declares,
"The wilful killing of an unborn quick child by any injury to the mother
of the child, which would be murder if it resulted in the death of such
mother, shall be deemed manslaughter in the first degree." The
punishment for this crime is an imprisonment in the penitentiary for _not
less_ than seven years. The law further declares: "Every person who
shall administer to any woman pregnant with a quick child, or prescribe
for any such woman, or advise and procure for any such woman, any
medicine, drugs, or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any
instrument or other means, with intent thereby to destroy such child,
unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such
mother, shall, in case the death of such child or such mother be thereby
produced, be deemed guilty of manslaughter in the second degree." The
law prescribes as the punishment for this crime an imprisonment of not
less than four years', nor more than seven years' duration.

This is seemingly very severe, but in reality it is not. Now that
science has established the fact that to expel the foetus at any period
of pregnancy is to take life, or, in other words, to commit murder, the
law should make the selling of drugs or medicines for such purpose a
felony, and should punish with great severity any person publicly
exposing or privately offering them for sale. Such a statute, so far
from embarrassing any reputable member of the medical profession, would
be hailed with joy by all; for science has progressed so far, that the
cases in which it is necessary to produce an abortion for the sake of
saving the mother's life are extremely rare. Further than this, it may
be added that the drugs used by these Professors of Infanticide, are, as
a rule, unused by the Medical Faculty.

Being well aware then of the penalties to which they are exposed, the
Professors of Infanticide conduct their business with extreme caution.
They have a great advantage under our present legal system. It has been
found by experience that the only evidence by which they can generally be
c