Terror, fright, and excessive fatigue, also, not unfrequently cause abortion. All unpleasant sights, and all undue mental excitements, should be, as far as possible, avoided by those who are pregnant.
There are vile books in circulation, sold too, sometimes, by highly respectable booksellers, in which the writers affirm that abortion can be produced without any harm to the constitution. There is one physician in this city, whose book we saw a few days since in a bookstore in the city of Boston, in which he proposes to effect abortion with perfect safety; but, for the package of medicine, a fee of ten dollars must be sent, of course, in advance. It may be of service to some who may peruse these pages, for me to inform them, that there is always great danger in causing the expulsion of the fetus. The most powerful medicines for this purpose are often known to fail. Gastritis, enteritis, peritonitis, and death itself, has been caused by medication, without causing the intended abortion. And in those cases where the desired object is by chance brought about, sad is it to think, what for years must be the health. Even life-long misery and suffering have often been caused by drugging the system to produce abortion.
You have read those lines of Ovid, which Dryden gives us:
“But righteous vengeance of their crimes pursues,
And they are lost themselves who would their children lose,
The poisonous drugs, with mortal juices fill
Their veins, and undesigned themselves they kill.
Themselves upon the bier are breathless borne
With hair tied up, which was in ringlets worn.”
Women cannot be too careful of their bodily health during the period of pregnancy. If they would avoid, among a multitude of evils, the great misfortune of abortion, they cannot be too vigilant, and watchful, and careful in all matters pertaining to health at this time. Any imprudence here, such as would scarcely be noticed at other times, may lay the foundation for much future suffering.