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92  DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION 

Opinion of the Court 
Appendix A to opinion of the Court 

of  the  State  of  West  Virginia,  when  this  Constitution
goes  into  operation,  and  are  not  repugnant  thereto,
shall be and continue the law of this State until altered 
or repealed by the Legislature.”92 

The Virginia law in force in 1863 stated: 

Sec. 8.  “Any free person who shall administer to, or 
cause to be taken, by a woman, any drug or other thing,
or  use  any  means,  with  intent  to  destroy  her  unborn
child, or to produce abortion or miscarriage, and shall
thereby destroy such child, or produce such abortion or 
miscarriage, shall be confined in the penitentiary not 
less than one, nor more than five years.  No person, by
reason  of  any  act  mentioned  in  this  section,  shall  be 
punishable where such act is done in good faith, with 
the  intention  of  saving  the  life  of  such  woman  or
child.”93 

25.  Oregon (1864):

Sec.  509.  “If  any  person  shall  administer  to  any 
woman pregnant with child, any medicine, drug or sub-
stance whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument 
or  other  means,  with  intent  thereby  to  destroy  such
child,  unless  the  same  shall  be  necessary  to  preserve
the life of such mother, such person shall, in case the
death of such child or mother be thereby produced, be 
deemed guilty of manslaughter.”94 

26.  Nebraska (1866):

Sec. 42.  “Every person who shall willfully and mali-
ciously  administer  or  cause  to  be  administered  to  or
taken by any person, any poison or other noxious or de-
structive  substance  or  liquid,  with  the  intention  to 

—————— 

92 W. Va. Const., Art. XI, §8 (1862). 
93 Va. Code, Tit. 54, ch. 191, §8 (1849) (emphasis added); see also W. Va.

Code, ch. 144, §8 (1870) (similar). 

94 Ore. Gen. Laws, Crim. Code, ch. 43, §509 (1865).