abortion

the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.

Defined by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

The expulsion of the foetus at a period of utero gestation so early that it has not acquired the power of sustaining an independent life. It may be either innocent, as when accidental, or criminal. Criminal abortion is the willful production of the miscarriage of a pregnant woman, whether by the administration of drugs, or the use of instruments, or other means, the same not being necessary to save her life. At common law, the woman must have been quick with child (78 Ky. 204; 63 Mich. 229), but this is no longer necessary (49 Iowa, 260; 33 Me. 48; 83 N. C. 360; 45 Ark. 333). It is an aggravation of the offense, and in some states constitutes manslaughter, if the death of the woman is produced.

The premature exclusion of the human foetus; secondarily, the foetus so brought forth.

In criminallaw. The miscarriage or premature delivery of a woman who is quick with child. When this is brought abont with a malicious design, or for an unlawful purpose, it is a crime in law. The act of bringing forth what is yet imperfect; and particularly the delivery or expulsion of the human fw@fus prematurely, or before it is yet capable of sustaining life, Also the thing prematurely brought forth, or product of an unlimely process, Sometimes loosely used for the offense of procuring a premature delivery; but, strictly, the early delivering is the abortion; causing or procuring abortion is the full name of the offense. Abbott.

In criminal law. The premature exclusion of the human foetus, after the period of quickening; which when procured or produced with a malicious design or for an unlawful purpose, is a criminal offence. 4 Steph. Com. 128. 1 Russell on Crimes, 671. 1 Chitt. Gen. Pr. 35. 2 N. Y. Rev. St. [661,] 550, § 9. Id. [694,] 578, § 21. Statutes of Ohio, chap. 35, p. 252.

med. jur.andcriminal law. The expulsion of the foetus before the seventh month of uterogestation, or before it is viable. (q. v.) The causes of this accident are referable either to the mother, and particularly to the uterus; or to the foetus and its dependencies. The causes in the mother may be: extreme nervous susceptibility, great debility, plethora, faulty conformation, and the like; and it is frequently induced immediately by intense mental emotion, violent exercise, &c. The causes seated in the foetus are its death, rupture of the membranes, &zc. It most frequently occurs between the 8th and 12th weeks of gestation. When abortion is produced with a malicious design, it becomes a misdemeanor, at common law, 1 Russell, 553, and the party causing it may be indicted and ing the foetus may be divided into general and local. ‘To the first belong venesection, emetics, cathartics, diuretics, emmenagocues, &c. The second embraces all kinds of violence directly applied. When, in consequence of the means used to produce abortion, the death of the woman ensues, the crime is murder. By statute a distinction is made between a woman quick with child, (q. v.) and one who though pregnant is not so, 1 Bl. Com. 129. Physiologists, perhaps with reason, think that the child is a living being from the moment of conception. 1 Beck, Med. Jur. 291.

— General references. 1 Beck, 288 to 331; Roscoe, Cr. Ev. 190; 1 Russ. 553; Vilanova y Maizies, Materia Criminal Forense, Obs. 11, c. 7, n. 15—18.