As always, you can find the Dobbs v. Jackson decision here.

Paragraph 3 of 6

Sentence 3 of 4

Just one claim in this sentence, and it’s a strange one:

“In 1803, the British Parliament made abortion a crime at all stages of pregnancy and authorized the imposition of severe punishment. See Lord Ellenborough’s Act, 43 Geo. 3, c. 58 (1803).”

I found the cited passage here. It’s just one block of text, and the crimes are listed in a strange fashion, so please forgive this. Here’s the abortion portion surrounded by what seem like two unrelated (and random) crimes:

“That if any person or persons from and after the first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, shall, either in England or Ireland, wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully shoot at any of his Majesty’s subjects or shall wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully present, point, or level any kind of loaded fire-arms at any of his Majesty’s subjects, and attempt by drawing a trigger or in any other manner, to discharge the same at or against his or their person or persons, or shall wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully stab or cut any of his Majesty’s subjects, with intent in so doing, or by means thereof, to murder, or rob, or to maim, disfigure or disable such his Majesty’s subject or subjects, or with intent to do some other grievous bodily harm to such his Majesty’s subject or subjects, or with intent to obstruct, resist, or prevent the lawful apprehension and detainer of the person or persons so stabbing or cutting, or the lawful apprehension and detainer of any of his, her, or their accomplices for any offences for which he, she or they may respectively be liable by law to be apprehended, imprisoned, or detained, or shall wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully administer to, or cause to be administered to or taken by any of his Majesty’s subjects, any deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance or thing, with intent such his Majesty’s subject or subjects thereby to murder, or thereby to cause and procure the miscarriage of any woman, then being quick with child; or shall wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully set fire to any house, barn, hop oast, malthouse, stable, coach house, outhouse, mill, warehouse or shop, whether such house, barn, hop oast, malthouse, stable, coach house, outhouse, mill, warehouse or shop shall then be in the possession of the person or persons so setting fire to the same, or in the possession of any other person or persons, or of any body corporate, with intent thereby to injure or defraud his Majesty or any of his Majesty’s subjects, or any body corporate, that then, and in every such case, the person or persons so offending, their counsellors, aiders, and abettors, knowing of any privy to such offence, shall be and are hereby declared to be felons, and shall suffer death as in felony without benefit of clergy: provided always, that in case it shall appear on the trial of any person or persons indicted for the wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully shooting at any of his Majesty’s subjects, or for wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully presenting, pointing, or levelling any kind of loaded fire-arms at any of his Majesty’s subjects, and attempting, by drawing a trigger, or in any other manner, to discharge the same at or against his or their person or persons, or for the wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully stabbing or cutting any of his Majesty’s subjects with such intent as aforesaid, that such acts of stabbing or cutting were committed under such circumstances as that if death had ensued therefrom the same would not in law have amounted to the crime of murder, that then and in every such case the person or persons so indicted shall be deemed and taken to be not guilty of the felonies whereof they shall be so indicted, but be thereof acquitted.

That’s a lot, so I’ve bolded the relevant section of that part. The second part seems to mostly be relevant to the claim, so no bold there. Sorry:

“II. And whereas it may sometimes happen that poison or some other destructive or noxious and destructive substance or thing may be given, or other means used, with intent to procure miscarriage or abortion where the woman may not be quick with child at the time, or it may not be proved that she was quick with child; be it therefore further enacted, That if any person or persons, from and after the said first day of July in the said year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, shall wilfully and maliciously administer to, or cause to be administered to, or taken by any woman, any medicines, drug, or other substance or thing whatsoever, or shall use or employ or cause or procure to be used or employed any instrument or other means whatsoever, with intent thereby to cause the miscarriage of any woman not being, or not being proved to be, quick with child at the time of administering such things or using such means, that then and in every such case the person or persons so offending, their counsellors, aiders, and abettors, knowing of and being privy to such offence, shall be and are hereby declared to be guilty of felony, and shall be liable to be fined, imprisoned, set in and upon the pillory, publickly or privately whipped, or to suffer one or more of the said punishments, or to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years, at the discretion of the court before which such offender shall be tried and convicted.

So it is true that this act was declared in 1803. In England. A careful reader might find some issues here, though. If this section of Dobbs is establishing “our history and tradition,” it seems to be missing the mark. By 1803 the United States of America had been fully independent from England for a couple of decades (because of the war and whatnot), our constitution had been going strong for fourteen years, the Supreme Court had delivered its first decisions twelve years earlier, and we were on our third president.

Calling an act of British Parliament in 1803 part of our “history and tradition” is a bit like calling your cousin one of your ancestors.

But as regards the truth value of this claim, which is the whole sentence, we land on “true” without any confusion. Still no argument made for why abortion is a crime under these circumstances—just a declaration that it is.

This claim is true:

• “In 1803, the British Parliament made abortion a crime at all stages of pregnancy and authorized the imposition of severe punishment.”