ci and Roberts.

_Sterilization._--Brief mention must be made of _sterilization_--an
operation whereby further pregnancy is prevented--which has been put
forward by certain witnesses as a method of preventing abortion.

Just as therapeutic abortion is, in certain cases, legitimately
performed by medical practitioners, so has the operation of
sterilization a recognized place in medical treatment of exceptional
cases in which a woman's life is likely to be endangered or her health
gravely impaired by further pregnancy.

It can, indeed, be reasonably argued that in such cases sterilization
is very definitely to be preferred to the very unsatisfactory
alternative of repeated therapeutic abortion.

Nevertheless, any general extension of this practice would, in the
opinion of the Committee, be open to serious abuse.

The Committee sees a tendency in some quarters to extend the
indications for this operation far beyond the bounds of generally
accepted medical opinion.

The attitude of the Committee towards this matter is therefore the same
as towards more specific legalization of therapeutic abortion.

_The Prosecution of the Criminal Abortionist._--A very disquieting
aspect of this problem is the relative immunity of the criminal
abortionist from punishment. Conviction for the crime is rare, even in
cases where guilt appears to be proved beyond all reasonable doubt.

The Committee has sought to discover the reasons for the failure to
obtain conviction.

It is apparent that the police authorities are faced with many
difficulties. In the first instance conviction is largely dependent on
the evidence of a woman who, in the eyes of the law, is an accomplice
to the offence, and corroboration of her evidence may be demanded.

It has been suggested by certain witnesses that, if the woman were
legally exempt from penalty, there would be less reticence about giving
evidence and a greater fear on the part of the abortionist.

On the other hand, it has been stated to the Committee that where such
an indemnity is actually given, this very fact operates against
conviction.

The Commissioner of Police gave information that--

"Juries are loth to convict in such cases and appear to be
impressed by the argument usually advanced by counsel for the
defence that, as it was at the solicitation of the woman that the
offence was convicted, she is the principal offender, and they
adopt the view that unless she al