fine of not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one
thousand dollars, or by both, in the discretion of the court."]

The knowledge that prohibitory laws exist is sufficient to deter
reputable physicians from illegal practice; whereas known laxity in
the enforcement of the law continually tempts unscrupulous persons to
provoke abortion. Among the poorer classes the procedure is
undertaken by ignorant women, while persons in more comfortable
circumstances avail themselves of the services of medical men who are
usually incompetent and value money above professional honor. The net
result is an unpardonable death-rate and a large proportion of
invalids. Aside from the legal aspect of the act, the element of
personal danger would seem a warning to be heeded by women who
contemplate becoming a party to this crime.

THERAPEUTIC ABORTION.--If a woman is suffering from tuberculosis or
some organic affection, pregnancy may add a serious strain upon the
already crippled machinery of her body. Occasionally gestation itself
may cause changes which threaten life. In either event the duty of
the physician is plain. The law is acquainted with such emergencies,
and explicitly permits the termination of pregnancy when undertaken
to relieve or cure such conditions. When performed to restore health
the operation is called therapeutic abortion.

The Maryland law, for example, grants the right to induce abortion
whenever two or more physicians see the patient and agree that "no
other method will secure the safety of the mother." Similar rules are
prescribed by the statutes of other States, but none concedes the
right of abortion as a means of keeping the woman from suicide.