Commonwealth v. Parker
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The indictment against the defendant contained three counts. The first alleged that the defendant, at Boston, on the 6th of June 1843, unlawfully, knowingly and inhumanly, did force and thrust a sharp metallic instrument into the womb and body of a married woman, [named,] she, the said married woman, “ being then and there pregnant with child, with a wicked and unlawful intent, of her the said Luceba, then and there to cause and procure the said ” married woman “to miscarry,…
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The indictment against the defendant contained three counts. The first alleged that the defendant, at Boston, on the 6th of June 1843, unlawfully, knowingly and inhumanly, did force and thrust a sharp metallic instrument into the womb and body of a married woman, [named,] she, the said married woman, “ being then and there pregnant with child, with a wicked and unlawful intent, of her the said Luceba, then and there to cause and procure the said ” married woman “to miscarry, and prematurely bring forth the said child, with which she was then and there pregnant, as aforesaid, and that she, the…
1Opinion of the CourtShaw, C. J.
Without stating particularly the formal grounds of the motions in arrest of judgment and for a new trial, it is sufficient to say that they resolve themselves into one question, namely, whether it is an indictable offence, at common law, to administer a drug, or perform an operation upon a pregnant woman, with her consent, with the intention *265and for the purpose of causing an abortion and premature birth of the foetus of which she is pregnant, by means of which an abortion is in fact caused, without averring and proving that, at the time of the administration of such drug, or the performance…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. BangsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1812
3Cited by3 opinions
- Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health OrganizationSupreme Court of the United States · 2022
- State v. MilletteSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1972
- State v. SteadmanSupreme Court of South Carolina · 1948