A Solemn Appeal

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ABORTION

“Few are aware of the fearful extent to which this nefarious business, this worse than devilish practice, is carried on in all classes of society! Many a woman determines that she will not become a mother, and subjects herself to the vilest treatment, committing the basest crime to carry out her purpose. And many a man, who has ‘as many children as he can support.’ instead of restraining his passions, aids in the destruction of the babes he has begotten. SOAP 100.2

“The sin lies at the door of both parents in equal measure; for the father, although he may not always aid in the murder, is always accessory to it, in that he induces, and sometimes even forces upon the mother the condition which he knows will lead to the commission of this crime. SOAP 100.3

“But the effort to destroy the child is many times unsuccessful, and the little one is born with murder in his heart, stamped there by the murderous intentions of his own mother. And what wonder that these inborn passions should lead him to the lowest depths of degradation both as regards the body and the soul! Many a child lives to mature years, dwarfed and deformed in body, and irritable and imbecile in mind, a disgrace to himself and to the race, who might have been a model of beauty and strength, both physically and mentally, but for the attempts of his parents to destroy his life before he was born. SOAP 100.4

“And besides all this, the consequences of such a practice are most disastrous both upon the physical and moral nature of those whose souls are stained with this terrible sin. The general health of the mother is often ruined, and the generative organs seriously injured. No system can endure the shock produced by this unnatural crime without being more or less impaired, while many a woman meets death as a penalty for her sin; others live, but are never again in a condition to conceive, and often suffer constantly in consequence of their fiendish endeavors; while others still are enabled to bear children, but with such anguish as no tongue may tell, and the child thus born is frequently a curse to himself and all with whom he is connected.” SOAP 101.1