On the evils of artificial methods of [preventing] fecundation and on abortion production in modern times / by T.M. Dolan.

  • Thomas M. Dolan
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the evils of artificial methods of [preventing] fecundation and on abortion production in modern times / by T.M. Dolan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    by little to destroy the French population.- If this should extend to other races, which form the front rank of civilisation, they will run the risk of some day being supplanted by less civilised people.” With truth I said this question was one of the most important in con- nection with State medicine. It concerns the individual, the family, society. We, as medical men, with all those interests at stake, cannot any longer be silent, and I believe a good deal rests with us towards checking these evils. Individuals cannot do much, but a united profession can accomplish a good deal. I appeal to the profession, not of one country, but of the world, to let it go forth from this great Congress, that in the interests of the individual, the family, and society, you condemn these conjugal frauds, on the ground of social morality and social economy, in the true Interests of the nations you represent. Abortion production need not detain us very long. It is a crime recognised by all civilised countries ; it requires no argument to show why such a practice is immoral and criminal. I use the word abortion in its broadest sense ; criminal abortion includes all attempts made, at any time, to destroy the fecundated ovum, the embryo, or the foetus. A difference has been made between the living and the inanimate foetus, fixed by the number of days that have passed, and there has been endless discussion as to at what period life was manifest first. As soon as impregnation has taken place, a being is in process of formation, and that being has rights, and those rights must be safeguarded. That is the only logical position we can take. Though the laws of different countries punish those who induce or submit to abortion, and though the medical profession, as a body, support the teaching of Hippocrates, yet we have evidence that abortion production is on the increase in countries which claim to be civilised ; in fact, it would appear that we have almost reached the state which distinguished the last days of the Roman empire. This remark applies to America, England,