Femina, A Work for Every Woman

by John A. Miller

Unprincipled physicians are too often instrumental in abetting criminal abortions, and this for two reasons, namely, for the immediate lucre which is to them in hand paid, and also for ingratiating themselves into the confidence of their patrons, so that they may become their physician in other ailments. These are the pariahs of the profession, but, viewed from a business standpoint, they are very successful. It is through the looseness with which medical colleges are conducted in this country, many of them not deserving the name of college, but more properly denominated a rendezvous of self-constituted professors and ingenious advertising sharps, that the ranks of the profession are overcrowded, because there is no scrutiny of moral character or professional attainments. These once labeled M. D.’s are determined to make a professional living, and nothing deters them from becoming particeps criminis, but owing to the corrupt and depraved jury system such a thing as punishing a physician for feticide is hardly ever heard of. I would advise my readers to shun each and every one of these criminal monsters as they would a pestilence. In general, “female specialist” is but another name for abortionist, for the great majority of these self-constituted specialists do not know the rudiments of the science of gynecology; and women should exercise great precaution in whose hands they place themselves, or, rather, their lives. I know of no calling that is capable of rendering more good to humanity than the profession which I have made my own.

The honorable physician occupies a position where he can do a great deal to improve the tone and morality of the community. He can do more than the pulpit in preventing feticide, because he can depict the physical dangers and the moral turpitude, for it is to him that the deluded woman first goes for advice. It is with him to become an oracle of heaven; in the great majority of instances he can be instrumental in saving human life and prevent the mother from murdering her own child.

Maternity is the function of Divinity in human nature. Who can look upon a newly-born babe without seeing something truly Divine, a manifestation of the Divine mind to create in his image, through the instrumentality of man, an innocent human flower, planted upon this earth to enjoy the fullness thereof, and what miscreant shall deny it its inheritance?

That husbands are often the instigators of this crime is a fact well known to every physician of experience. I have known of a number of cases where wives came to my office with a woeful tale of discontent on the part of their husbands, who did not want an “increase.” Such men are not worthy the name of father or husband. They should have been emasculated before they ever approached the marriage altar, for they are below the brute creation and have no claim on human affections. The luxuries of life should not be considered as weighing against the birth of children, nor the expense of maintaining a large family considered as an excuse for feticide; expenses had better be reduced and economized in other directions, so as to meet the little extra increase, which the little stranger may cause. It is a fact, that among thrifty people, large families are no barrier to material success, for the blessedness of heaven rests upon them.

I invariably solicit an interview with the recalcitrant spouse, and take the opportunity to tell him of the responsibilities which married life imposes upon married couples; that the simple gratification of the carnal senses is lust, which can and should be controlled by every person, and more in particular by married men. Matrimonial relations based only on libidinous pleasure are transient and evanescent; incompatabilities arise, which cause conflict and dissension, ultimating in estrangement and divorces, but when soul is wedded to soul, then they are in harmony with the music of the spheres, and children constitute the cement of an eternal wedlock which no man can rend asunder.

Abrupt termination of pregnancy constitutes in itself a diseased process in the tissues of the womb. We have already learned of the gradual growth of the body of the womb to accommodate the growth of the child; when abortion takes place there is a sudden check to this growth in the tissues of the womb, and a low grade of inflammation invades the entire structure. This inflammatory process fixes or hardens the womb so that this acquired enlargement often becomes permanent. The result is, that women can often trace the beginning of a long series of complaints and a shattered constitution to a so-called miscarriage. For this reason, the after-treatment of an abortion is of much greater importance, than after a regular normal delivery.

After the close of a natural gestation, the child is born, and nature immediately sets to work to restore the womb to its healthy normal size. No violence having been done to the organ, there is no extra effort necessary on the part of nature to restore it. In a premature expulsion of the fetus, it is altogether different, the cell growth and the necessary physiological action to build up the womb, to house the rapidly-developing fetus, was suddenly interfered with, and the shock which the vital activity sustains, diverts their energies into a diseased process. Inflammation is to be guarded against, for it constitutes the root of all pathological conditions; chief among them is its prevention of fatty degeneration and absorption of the superfluous tissues of the organ, so that the womb remains heavy and enlarged. This entails a series of consequences; its size and weight may force it to occupy an unnatural and painful position, such as a falling of the womb or procidentia, or it may turn or even bend on itself into abnormal positions, called versions and flexions; these become obstinate to treatment in proportion to the time which elapses from the occurrence of the disease to the time when they fall under proper treatment.

Inflammations are limited sometimes to only portions of the organ; this may be to the lining mucous membrane of either the body or neck. It may also invade the entire organ and even extend to the neighboring tissues and ligaments. From the uterus along the Fallopian tubes to the ovaries inflammation may spread itself, causing abscesses in its wake and other complications which may require surgical skill of a special nature to give permanent relief.

Sterility is often the result of disease caused by abortion, and this should be another warning to thoughtless, giddy women, who desire no children in their early married life, because it would interfere with their regular pleasure rounds, and so resort to abortions, which will, in all probability, make them entirely unfit to ever become pregnant or bear children. I have made an attempt to impress on the reader two things; one of these is the flagrant violation of ordinary and simple rules of health, the other the enormity of the crime of induced abortions, and to accomplish this I have avoided screening the subject by employing ambiguous or finely-selected phrases, but have used plain terms which will not shock the pure or noble in heart and mind, but may the hypocritical, under the gauze of a false modesty.