of express statutes. At Common Law, abortion is punishable as
_homicide_ when the woman dies or when the operation results
fatally to the infant after it has been born alive. If performed for
the purpose of killing the child, the crime is _murder_; in the
absence of such intent, it is _manslaughter_. _The woman who
commits an abortion upon herself is likewise guilty of the crime._

The great majority of those who desire the interruption of pregnancy
feel they have not assumed an illegal position so long as they avoid
instrumental procedures. That is not correct, for even at Common Law
it is a misdemeanor to bring about the death of an unborn child _by
the use of drugs or by any other means_.

At Common Law there was a difference of opinion as to whether all
induced abortions were illegal. Many courts formerly held that
quickening was a necessary prerequisite; but under the modern
statutes, practically without exception, the law disregards the
period of pregnancy at which the abortion is provoked. Since the time
of conception determines the beginning of embryonic development, to
prove that the act was committed before fetal movements were
perceived is no longer a valid defense. This has been emphatically
stated by Judge Coulter, of Pennsylvania, who said: "_It is not the
murder of a living child which constitutes the offense, but the
destruction of gestation by wicked means and against nature. The
moment the womb is instinct with embryonic life and gestation has
begun, the crime may be perpetrated._"

Each commonwealth has enacted its own statutes for the regulation of
abortion. In many states, simply _to seek the means for destroying
pregnancy is a criminal act_. Thus, Indiana, perhaps the most