Commonwealth v. Bangs
9 Mass. 387
| Mass. | 1812There can be no sentence upon this verdict. The assault and battery are out of the case, and no abortion is alleged to have followed the taking of the potion; and if an abortion had been alleged and proved to have ensued, the averment that the woman was quick with child at the time is a necessary part of the indictment,
Judgment arrested.
[An attempt to procure abortion, even when the pregnant woman is not quick with child, is a misdemeanor at the common law. — 3 Chitty, Crim. Law, 798, — 1 Russell on Crimes, 2d. Eng. ed. 553. —And it is made felony by recent English statutes when the woman is quick with child, and highly penal in other cases. — 43 Geo. 3, c 58.— See 1,2,1 Geo. 4, c. 31, § 13 — 10 Geo.4, c. 34, § 16.—Ed.]