Williams v. United States

ARNOLD, Associate Justice.

The defendants were convicted of the crime of abortion. The indictment contained the negative averment that the operation was not necessary to preserve the life or health of the woman on whom it was performed. No evidence was offered by the government to support this negative averment, nor was the issue raised by the defendants. Their only defense was a denial that they had performed the operation.

At the close of the trial the defendants moved for a directed verdict and later for a new trial on the ground that the prosecution had failed to show that the abortion was…