Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-05-10

BY REV. JOHN TODD, D. D.

Gle HUH Juc OOHSlSS |
important topic that cannot fail to at
tract attention.
Nothing but an imperative sense
of duty could induce me to pen what
I am about to write. Letters from
different sections of the country and
from physicians too, are so urgent that
should write on this subject, that l
may not choose. / have no fear but
what / am about to write will be read;
but wish it might be solemnly pom
dered. | am about to Sneak, and
plainly too, of the practice of produc-
ing abortion. If any of my lady read
ers shall complain of want of deli
cacy, | beg them to remember three
facts; first, that the practice is fear
fully common; second, that probably
they are every week associating
with those who are guilty of the prac-
tice; and third, that seventy-fve per
cent. Of all the abortions produced
are caused and effected by females.
What then OF delicacy?
1t is well known that families Of
children, Of this generation, in New
England, do not average but three
and half each. / speak Of our ma
tive population. With foreigners it
is different, and the cause Of the diff,
ference will soon be mentioned. BY
the advertisements of almost every
paper, city, and village, in the land
offering medicines to be effectual "fron
whatever causes it is needed-by the
shameless and notorious great estab
Iishments fitted up and advertised as
places where any woman may resort
to effect the end desired; by the con
fessions of hundreds Of women made
to physicians, who have been injured
by the process; and by the almost con
slant n d unblushing applications
made to the profession from women
in all classes of society, married anC
unmarried, rich and poor, otherwise
good, bad Or Indifferent" to aid then
in the thing, do we know of the "fre
quency Of the crime"
AS a class. the medical profession
have taken a noble stand. The desc
lations have become so fearful that
as the guardians of human life, the,
were compelled to do so: and society
owes q debt Of gratitude to DIR. Il
h. Storcr, Of Boston, especially, fol
his powerful arguments, lucid arrange
ment of facts, patient investigation:
and earnest and eloquent remon
strances. Among his writings on thi
subject, the little work entitled NYh,
not is book for every woman,
and | wish every woman might care
fully read it. But the medical pro
tesSlon cannot arrest the evil, and the,
tell me they need, and must have the
moral power OF good people to aiC
them. Even now, as | have reason
to fear, all the profession are not be
yond the reach of personal appeal, OF
an enormous fee, and l do wish thai
every such an one could see that g
fee stepped in blood, and crimsoneC
with shame, cannot bring a blessing
to his family.
am sorry to learn from undoubted
testimony, that the practice is far
more common among Protestants than
among Catholics-Dr. Storer saws
"lnfinitely more frequent" and this
accounts, in part at least, for much
larger families Of the Irish Catholics.
There is nothing in Professionalism
That encourages, or cOnnives at it.
but there is vast ignorance as to the
guilt OF the thing. But in the Catho.
lie church, human life is guarded, at
oil stages, by the confessional, by stern
announcement and by fearful excom-
munlcations. The Rule in the Catho-
lie Church is unbending.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Bos-
ton says, eloquently and powerfully.
The very instant conception takes
place, there lies the vital germ of a
man. True it is hidden in the dark
ness OF the womb, and it is helpless ::
but has sacred rights. founded on
Gods law, and so much the more to be
respected because it is helpless. 1t
may be already living man, for nei-
ther mothers nor physicians can tell
when life is infused; they can only
tell when its presence is manifested.
and there is a wide difference between
the two things. At any rate. it is
from the first moment potentially and
IN rad'a a man, with body and soul
destined most surely by the will of
the Creator and by his law, to be de-
yeloped into the fullness Of human ex-
lstence. No one can prevent that de.
velopment without resisting and an
nullng one of the most sacred and i'm
portant laws established by the Di-
vine Author Of the universe, and he is
a criminal, a murderer who deals an
exterminating blow to the incipient
man, and drives back into nothingness
a beng to whom God designed to give
a living body and an immortal SOUL
From this it follows that the Young
woman whose virtue has proved an
insufficient guardian to her honor
when she seeks by abortion to save
In the eyes of man the honor she has
forfeited, incurs the additional and
deeper guilt Of murder in the eyes of |
God, the Judge of the living and the
dead. Who can express what follows |
with regard to those women. who
hndlng themselves lawfully mothers
prefer to devastate with poison or
with steel their wombs rather than
bear the discomforts attached to the
privilege of maternity, rather than
1orego the gaieties of winters balls
parties and plays, or the pleasure of
summers trips and amusement.n-l
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