4. Marks of rupture of the fourchette or perinæum.
5. Dark colour of the areola round the nipple.
6. Negative evidence, from absence of any of the above.
Can a Woman be delivered unconsciously?—This question may arise in cases of infanticide. Setting aside cases of epilepsy (in a fit of which disease Husband once attended a woman who was confined during the fit without being aware that she had been delivered), cases of apoplexy, coma, and narcosis from chloroform, opium, &c., it may be stated that delivery is possible during profound sleep. Husband once attended a woman who informed him that “she always had her pains during her sleep,” and only woke up just as the head came into the world. When it is borne in mind how easily some women pass through labour, it is quite possible that, after a busy day, sleep may be so profound as not to be disturbed by the pains of labour. In primiparæ the occurrence is more problematical. Women have often declared that they have been unconsciously delivered whilst at stool. This is also possible, but the circumstances of the case must be severely sifted.
CHAPTER XIII
FŒTICIDE, OR CRIMINAL ABORTION
[“Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument, or other means whatsoever, with the like intent: and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her, or cause to be taken by her, any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument, or other means whatsoever, with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement.”—Statute 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, sec. 58.]
The 59th section of the same Statute also takes into consideration the unlawfully supplying or procuring any poison, or other noxious thing, or instrument, or thing whatsoever for a woman, for the purpose of inducing abortion. The person so doing shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be kept in penal servitude for a term of five years, or be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.
It will be seen from the passages above quoted that there is no distinction between a woman quick or not quick with child. “The offence is to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child” (R. v. Goodhall, 1 Din. 187; 2 C. & K. 293). But although the law does not regard “quickening” in cases of abortion, yet the fact of having “quickened” may be pleaded as a bar to immediate capital punishment.
