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84  DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION 

Opinion of the Court 
Appendix A to opinion of the Court 

woman  pregnant  with  a  quick  child,  any  medicine,
drug or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any 
instrument or other means, with intent thereby to de-
stroy such child, unless the same shall have been nec-
essary to preserve the life of such mother, or shall have 
been advised by two physicians to be necessary for such 
purpose, shall, in case the death of such child or of such 
mother be thereby produced, be deemed guilty of man-
slaughter.” 

Sec. 34.  “Every person who shall wilfully administer 
to any pregnant woman any medicine, drug, substance 
or thing whatever, or shall employ any instrument or
other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure 
the  miscarriage  of  any  such  woman,  unless  the  same 
shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such 
woman, or shall have been advised by two physicians 
to be necessary for that purpose, shall, upon conviction, 
be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not more 
than one year, or by a fine not exceeding five hundred 
dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”77 

10.  Vermont (1846):

Sec. 1.  “Whoever maliciously, or without lawful jus-
tification with intent to cause and procure the miscar-
riage of a woman, then pregnant with child, shall ad-
minister to her, prescribe for her, or advise or direct her 
to take or swallow any poison, drug, medicine or nox-
ious thing, or shall cause or procure her, with like in-
tent, to take or swallow any poison, drug, medicine or
noxious  thing,  and  whoever  maliciously  and  without 
lawful justification, shall use any instrument or means
whatever, with the like intent, and every person, with 
the like intent, knowingly aiding and assisting such of-
fenders, shall be deemed guilty of felony, if the woman
die in consequence thereof, and shall be imprisoned in 

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77 Mich. Rev. Stat., Tit. 30, ch. 153, §§33–34 (1846) (emphasis added).