Tokology

Abortion or miscarriage is the term applied to the death and expulsion of the fetus previous to six months; after that and before full term it is called premature delivery.

The liability to abortion is more frequent at the beginning and during the third month. It is usually preceded by occasional loss of blood, which rarely is excessive at first, but in from three days to three weeks increases in frequency and quantity until it may absolutely amount to hemorrhage. The first symptom in some instances is a violent chill. In such cases soreness, heat and pain are soon located in the pelvis and the flowing may be deferred for a few days. One may have continuous pain, more or less severe, until the embryo is expelled; or it may come up at irregular intervals from day to day for some two or three weeks, there being such complete intermissions that the patient hopes each time that all danger is over, and that gestation may be completed.

The danger to the mother is from hemorrhage before the expulsion of the embryo, and from retention of membranes after the fetus is born. These decaying in the uterus, the poison is absorbed into the system and septicæmia is the result.

The causes of abortion, both remote and exciting, are numerous. Any diseases of the womb that take away its vitality or prevent its enlargement will result in death of the fetus. Any general disease or condition of the system that results in weakness or feebleness may make the continuance of life in the embryo impossible.

Lack of room in the pelvis and abdomen is a frequent cause of abortion in first pregnancies. This is the result of tight and heavy clothing and insufficient exercise. Remaining too much in-doors and suffering the debilitating effects of impure, heated atmosphere, is also a remote cause. The violation of the laws of sexual congress is another. Immoderation in this respect is exceedingly harmful, as it diverts from its needed purpose the mother’s energies, and weakens embryonic life. Any incontinence during pregnancy endangers a woman who has once miscarried.

The recent causes are lifting, straining, a fall, a jar, a blow, a violent cold, or an acute attack of disease, sudden mental emotions, etc. The system so soon takes on any habit that, having once aborted, one is very liable to a recurrence of the same results in subsequent pregnancies, at the same period.

To prevent a miscarriage, observe faithfully the hygienic rules laid down in this book. Make the best possible conditions for health in every direction. Especially observe the law of continence. Once threatened with abortion, hemorrhage ever so slight having set in, a woman should by all means take her bed and observe perfect quiet. She must run no risks. Apply compresses and take frequent short, tepid sitz-baths, live on a mild, cooling diet, and the danger may be averted.

Aconite.—Chill or fever, with quick pulse and flow of bright red blood. Six drops of first dilution in a glass full of water; take a tablespoonful every hour.

Secale, 3d.—Cramp-like pains, blood clotted and dark, cadaverous expression of face. Dose: Six pellets every two hours.

Cimicifuga, 2d.—Pain in the back of the neck, aching in the limbs, back and groin, with pressing, bearing down. Dose: One grain every two hours.

A woman requires the same attention and treatment during and after a miscarriage that she requires in a confinement. A labor at full term is natural; a miscarriage is unnatural, and often requires a longer time for the system to recover from the shock.

Feticide is a produced abortion, whether by drugs, intentional shocks, electricity, or by instrumental interference, either by one’s own hand or by the hand of a surgeon.

Many women have been taught to think that the child is not viable until after quickening, and that there is no harm in arresting pregnancy previous to the feeling of motion; others believe that there is no life until birth, and the cry of the child is heard.

A high legal authority says: “The absurdity of the principle upon which these distinctions are founded is easy of demonstration. The fetus, previous to the time of quickening, must be either dead or living. Now, that it is not the former, is most evident from neither putrefaction nor decomposition taking place, which would be the consequence of an extinction of the vital principle. The embryo, therefore, before the crisis, must be in a state different from that of death, and that can be no other than life.”

When the female germ and male sperm unite, then is the inception of a new life; all that goes to make up a human being—body, mind and spirit, must be contained in embryo within this minute organism. Life must be present from the very moment of conception. If there was not life there could be no conception. At what other period of a human being’s existence, either pre-natal or post-natal, could the union of soul and body take place? Is it not plain that the violent or forcible deprivation of existence of this embryo, the removal of it from the citadel of life, is its premature death, and hence the act can be denominated by no more mild term than murder, and whoever performs the act, or is accessory to it, in the sight of God and human law is guilty of the crime of all crimes.

The life of the babe in her arms is to the mother more precious than all else; her heart is thrilled with a pang of agony at thought of the least danger to its life. By what false reasoning does she convince herself that another life, still more dependent upon her for its existence, with equal rights and possibilities, has no claim upon her for protection? More than this, she deliberately strikes with the red hand of murder, and terminates its existence with no thought of wrong, nor consciousness of violated law.

The woman who produces abortion, or allows it to be produced, risks her own health and life in the act, and commits the highest crime in the calendar, for she takes the life of her own child. She defrauds the child of the right to its existence.

By a wise provision we are placed in this world for growth, development and preparation for another life. As we leave this life, we must enter the other. In so far as a human being is deprived of this existence, to that extent he is deprived of schooling and preparation for the other life. Pause for one moment and think of the thousands of stunted, dwarfed beings that are prematurely ushered into an existence that can not be normal and designed. Were infants to have been born into spirit life, provision would have been made to that effect. That they are born into this life is proof that this world is best adapted for their growth and education.

There may be no harm in preventing the conception of a life, but once conceived it should not be deprived of its existence in that world which in all its appointments is specially adapted to its development.

What are some of the incentives to produce abortion? An unmarried woman seduced under false representations by a man who feels no responsibility for his own offspring, suffers alone all the shame and contumely of the act, and is tempted to cause miscarriage to shield her good name.

Married women who fear that maternity will interfere with their pleasures, are guilty of forcibly curtailing embryotic life. Others, again, who are poor or are burdened with care or grief, or have licentious or drunken husbands, shrink from adding to an already overburdened existence.

The first class, the girls who have lost their virtue under promise of marriage are most deserving of sympathy and commiseration, though none receive less. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” At the least imputation against a fair girl’s character, even those professing to be the followers of the loving Christ, often have so little leniency, so little of the Father’s love in their hearts, that they hug their Christian robes to their bodies, lest they be contaminated by the polluting touch of the victim. They “pass by on the other side” and leave the poor broken-hearted child bleeding by the wayside.

The girl’s lessons of life and purity have been learned mainly from one she loved and trusted, only to be betrayed. What wonder that in her ignorance of the value of life she should be tempted to add a second wrong to the first? She knows the shadow that has darkened her path; she realizes:

And if she can conceal the evidence of her guilt, she may hope by honest endeavor to retrieve her good name, and thus is tempted to produce an abortion.

Two wrongs can not make one right. Before God and her own conscience, the only tribunals that in justice have any right to accuse her, she can not by any act gain absolution.

When girls are given proper instruction upon the relation of the sexes and understand how to govern and guard themselves; when young men are taught that virtue has as high a meaning for one sex as another, that the protective chivalry of which they boast does not imply that they shall force the woman with whom they associate to the defensive; and that the paternal interest in, and responsibilities for a child are equal to the maternal, then the temptation to produce abortion for the purpose of shielding one’s character will not exist.

Of the second class, who produce miscarriage for pleasure and selfish interest, there is little to say in extenuation. They may be victims of ignorance or of a false education. The maternal instinct is inherent in every woman’s heart. It seems strange that any morbid idea of pleasure could antagonize the natural aspiration to such an extent that one could destroy the viability of her own offspring.

I well remember years ago the wife of a well-to-do lawyer making application to me to produce abortion. She had but one child, and he three years of age. She was surrounded by every comfort a prosperous business man could afford. I sought the cause of the unnatural promptings of this intelligent woman’s heart. It seems that a trip to Europe was contemplated and planned for in the early summer, and that this unanticipated and chance maternity would thwart their expectations. With all the arguments I then possessed, I showed her the wrong she sought to do, but nothing seemed to weigh against the proposed trip. She returned the second and third time even, armed with a lawyer’s sophistry to endeavor to persuade me to be accessory to the diabolical deed. No doubt one cause of her persistency was fear of trusting her secret to me unless she could persuade me to be an accomplice.

She probably found some one to assist her out of the “trouble,” for she took the proposed trip, but I was not astonished to learn three or four years later that she was lying at death’s door with consumption. How many times she produced abortion I know not but I was told that for months she suffered from uterine hemorrhages and in the weakened state of her system a violent cold settled upon her lungs which soon terminated her life. This was the physical result of the crime she had committed.

Of the last class, who have an apparent need to limit the size of the family, what can be said in extenuation of their committing this crime? Shall not the mother who already has many children, who is herself sick, nervous and prostrated, or else has a husband who is diseased or a drunkard, leaving her the support of the family, save herself additional care by arresting the life of the embryo? The heart goes out in sympathy for all such, but even the most aggravating circumstances can not atone for the crime. The whole nature of every true woman revolts against forced maternity.

Thoughtful minds must acknowledge the great wrong done when children are begotten under adverse conditions. Women must learn the laws of life so as to protect themselves, and not be the means of bringing sin-cursed, diseased children into the world.

The remedy is in the prevention of pregnancy, not in producing abortion. When men and women have learned the wise control of the procreative functions, then may we hope that children will be begotten in love and unselfishness. It is the undesired and undesigned maternity that is revolting to the nature of woman. As long as men feel that they have a right to indulgence of the passions under law, no matter what the circumstances, what the condition of the wife, or the probabilities of maternity, so long will the spirit of rebellion take possession of women and the temptation enter their souls to relieve themselves of this unsought burden. May the day soon arrive when men will learn that even passion should serve reason, and that gratification should, at least, not be sought at the expense of conjugal happiness and unwelcome children.