Madame Young's Guide to Health / Her experience and practice for nearly forty years; a true family herbal, wherein is displayed the true properties and medical virtues of all the roots, herbs, &c., indigenous to the United States, and their combination in all the diseases the human body is heir to; also, an explanation of the human body, its liability to injuries through ignorance of its structure. Dedicated exclusively to her sex.

by Amelia Young

ABORTION.

It seems to me, every female of common sense—letting alone christianity, would shudder at the expression of this word, if they really knew its definition, or could realize the extent of the crime. The Boston Scalpel defines the word “abortionism,” to be “the knowledge and practice of expelling from the womb the ovum, or fœtus, ere it is matured.”

In this enlightened century, when the gospel is read and preached in every tongue, can it be possible that we find women so barbarous, as to destroy the immortal life which God has given. You may deprive the precious, unborn babe from coming into this beautiful world, but its spirit will return to God, who gave it, and arise in judgment against you. Many females at the present day, exclaim, (and it is a fashionable saying,) “I could have children, if I choosed, but I will not be annoyed with them, and my husband dislikes them.” How unlike the blessed Savior! He took children in his arms, and blessed them. What were your intentions, in taking upon you the duties of a wife? Surely, some motive must have prompted your ambition, or you did not take a realizing sense of its duties, as it was expressly commanded by God himself. After He had created Eve, He joined Adam and Eve together, and said, “Go forth and multiply!” He did not say, “gratify your carnal passions, and destroy the effects;” but He said, “replenish the earth.” The fruits of the womb are God’s reward, and He has chosen woman to bring forth at His command.

No time in the life of woman, can she feel to lift up her heart and voice, to praise God, with more fervor for his protecting care, and rejoice in His mercy, than after a safe delivery of a living babe. She forgets all her suffering, when she clasps the little innocent to her breast. In ancient times, miscarriage was thought to be a curse on the female, as it endangers her life, by bringing on hemorrhage, from the adhesion of the placenta. There is a difference between miscarriage and abortion: an exclusion of the fœtus six, and sometimes seven weeks after the cessation of the menses, is termed miscarriage; between that and six months, an abortion; and between that and nine months, premature labor. Sometimes the fault lies in some deficiency on the part of the ovum. Abortion may be caused by the inability of the uterus to distend itself, beyond a certain limit; and this may be imputed to dress, nine cases out of ten.

Woman was designed by God, as I have said before, to bring forth; she is, by nature, a producer of her race, intended, by God, to feed and nourish, with her own blood, the fœtus, and bring it into the world, an image of God himself, and of man.

Abortion is unnatural; and many lose their lives, directly after it, and few gain their strength, as it was previous to it. And all those preventatives, which are in fashion at the present day, to baffle the will of God, are an abomination in His all-seeing eye, and He will repay ten fold.

Kind and beloved woman! preserve thy purity, virtue, and chastity, and thy days will be many and pleasant upon the earth; and finally, thou shalt become a chosen angel in Heaven, to sing the praises of God and the Lamb!