Hatfield v. Gano
| Citation | 15 Iowa 177 |
| Parties | HATFIELD et ux v. GANO |
| Decision Date | 09 October 1863 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
Appeal from Decatur District Court.
ACTION of slander. The words charged in the petition, to have been spoken by defendant are, that
Upon issue made, a trial was had, and the Court instructed the jury as follows: First: "That words charging a married woman, living in lawful wedlock, with having caused an abortion upon herself, are not actionable; that causing an abortion upon herself before the child is quick, is not a crime." Second: "Unless the defendant charged the plaintiff, Elizabeth Hatfield, with the commission of a crime, they must find with the defendant."
The plaintiffs excepted at the time to the giving of these instructions, and it is claimed that the Court below erred in thus charging the jury as to the liability of defendant.
Affirmed.
Warner for the appellants.
No appearance for appellee.
Hon CALEB BALDWIN, Chief Justice, Hon. GEORGE G. WRIGHT, Judge Hon. RALPH P. LOWE, Judge, from December 7 to December 24 1863. Hon. GEORGE G. WRIGHT, Chief Justice, Hon. RALPH P. LOWE, Judge, from January 1, 1864, to the conclusion of the Term.[*]
To charge a woman with causing or procuring an abortion upon herself, was not sufficient to charge her with a crime, under the Code of 1851, as there was no law punishing such an act in this State at that time. This question is clearly settled in the case of Abrams v. Foshee et ux., 3 Iowa 275. Unless there is some act of the Legislature passed subsequent to that time which declares this act a crime, the ruling of the Court was in accordance with the spirit and letter of the opinion of this Court, in the above cited case, and to the correctness of which we now adhere. In 1858, the Legislature passed an act for the punishment of foeticide which read as follows: "That every person who shall willfully administer to any pregnant woman, any medicine, drug, substance or thing whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument, or other means whatever with the intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of any such woman, unless the same shall be necessary to preserve the life of such woman, shall, upon conviction thereof," &c. See Revision of 1860, § 4221.
We incline to the opinion that this act does not change the law from what it was when the case of Abrams v. Foshee et ux., supra, was decided, in so far as it relates to the acts of the woman upon whom the abortion was procured. In other words, if the procuring an abortion by the person pregnant, through any means adopted by herself, was not a crime under the Code...
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Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds ex rel. State
...law took effect, our court had to decide whether a woman performing her own abortion could be convicted under section 4221. Hatfield v. Gano , 15 Iowa 177, 178 (1863). Although the prohibition applied to "every person," we determined "that it was the person who used the means with the pregn......
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State v. Crofford
... ... woman upon whom the act is perpetrated as the victim, and she ... cannot be guilty of this crime. Hatfield v. Gano, 15 ... Iowa 177; Abrams v. Foshee, 3 Iowa 274. This is in ... harmony with the conclusion reached by courts generally that ... she is not ... ...
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Munk v. Frink
...in the death thereof, or of its mother. And such may be regarded as substantially the common law definition of the offense. Hatfield v. Gano, 15 Iowa 177; Smith State, 33 Me. 48; State v. Cooper, 22 N.J.L. 52. From the foregoing order of the state board, Munk prosecuted a petition in error ......
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Metzger v. Royal Neighbors of America
...whether an abortion brought about or attempted by the woman would amount to a violation of section 39 of the criminal code. Hatfield v. Gano, 15 Iowa 177; Commonwealth v. Wood, 11 Gray (Mass.) 85; Bishop, Statutory Crimes (3d ed.) secs. 749, 760. In event, the burden was on defendant to est......