Part 6 (2/2)

”_Supplying the Means of Procuring Abortion._

”223. (1) Every one is liable to three years' imprisonment with hard labour who unlawfully supplies or procures any poison or other noxious thing, or any instrument or thing whatsoever, knowing that the same is intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman or girl, whether with child or not.

”(2) Every one who commits this offence after a previous conviction for a like offence is liable to imprisonment with hard labour for life.”

This section re-enacts s. 203 of the Criminal Code Act, 1893. In _R._ v. _Thompson_ [1911] 30 N.Z.L.R. 690, a person was convicted of an attempt (s. 93. p. 209, _ante_) to procure a noxious thing although the thing actually procured was innoxious.

”Knowing” has the meaning of ”believing,” and a person supplying ”a noxious thing” is guilty even when the person supplied, who states that he required it for procuring abortion, had no intention of using it and did not use it for that purpose (_R._ v. _Nosworthy_ [1907] 36 N.Z.L.R.

536).

If the evidence shows that prisoner intended the instrument to be used for the purpose stated, it is sufficient without evidence of intention on the part of the woman to use it or allow it to be used (_R._ v.

_Scully_ [1903] 23 N.Z.L.R. 380).

The word ”thing” where secondly used in this section includes only things _ejusdem generis_ with instrument and capable of being used to produce miscarriage (_R._ v. _Austin_ [1905] 24 N.Z.L.R. 893).

_Therapeutic Abortion._--In New Zealand, as in Great Britain and other countries, the medical profession has always held that when the mother's life is seriously endangered by a continuation of the pregnancy the termination of the pregnancy is justifiable and right.

This the law allows, not specifically but by inference.

It is probably a correct statement of the position to say that, with advances in medical knowledge and thought, even the most conservative medical opinion, apart from that which is influenced by certain religious views, holds that the indications for the termination of pregnancy have been extended somewhat to include not only cases in which the mother's life is immediately jeopardized, but also certain cases in which her life is more remotely endangered.

This view is supported by the social thought of to-day.

This is not to say that the occasions for this operation are frequent; they are, indeed, infrequent.

The general standards which guide the medical profession in this matter are very strict, and are conscientiously conformed to by the majority of its members.

It is also a well-recognized rule of the profession that such operations should only be performed after consultation between two medical pract.i.tioners.

With this change in medical outlook, however, there has been no corresponding alteration in the law, which, as it stands, is as uncompromising as ever, and allows of no interference except to save the _life_ of the mother.

It is a fact that the law is _interpreted_ liberally, and no doctor who has acted honestly in the belief that the mother's health was seriously endangered has ever been challenged.

Nevertheless, it has been urged by a large body of the medical profession, especially of those most intimately affected by the question, that there are possible dangers in the situation, and that the law should be altered to indicate more specifically the rightful position of the doctor in this matter; in other words, it is advocated that the present interpretation of the law should be incorporated in the law itself.

Much is made of the fact that an honourable pract.i.tioner occasionally finds himself in the unsatisfactory position of having actually to break the letter of the law in doing what according to accepted medical standards is in the best interests of the patient.

As safeguards against the possible dangers of a widening of the law, it has been suggested that new regulations should be introduced governing the practice of therapeutic abortion.

It has been recommended that operations should only be performed after adequate consultation, and that written certificates should be given by both parties to the consultation; that in certain cases the consultant should be a specialist; that all operations should be performed in public or licensed hospitals; that every therapeutic abortion should be notified to the Medical Officer of Health, to whom also the two certificates should be forwarded; and that every operation not performed under these conditions should be subject to strict investigation.

It has also been recommended by some that there should be a general notification of all abortions.

Those who are opposed to any alteration of the present state argue that any specific legalization of therapeutic abortion to save the serious impairment of health as well as to save life might lead to abuses of this sanction. They point out that even at the present time doctors differ considerably in their views and in their practice, and they fear that such divergences in thought and practice might be seriously exaggerated.

<script>