A Legal Issue

Abortion

A Legal Issue

Until late in the 20th century, voluntary abortions were prohibited by law in most countries. However, even the most restrictive criminal laws usually recognized the broader scientific view of conception by providing no penalties for the use of "morning-after pills" or intra-uterine devices, which prevent the beginning of pregnancy in spite of possible fertilizations. Indeed, the very fact that such substances and devices are generally considered contraceptives and not abortifacients suggests that the traditional religious interpretations are not shared by the public at large. Neither did the laws ever reflect the opinion that abortion is murder. If they had, the penalties for abortionists would have been the same as for murderers: Death or life imprisonment. In actual fact, however, the penalties were always much less severe. Moreover, the most important person involved in the crime, the woman who had the abortion performed, was practically never prosecuted at all.
Such curious hesitancy, indeed ambiguity, on the part of the law indicates that
the modern secular state cannot support any particular moral or religious viewpoint, but tends instead to seek some position of compromise. In fact, the state, which has to accommodate and protect the adherents of many different and often conflicting beliefs, can meet this obligation only by basing its laws on purely rational considerations. In the case of abortion, such considerations point clearly in one direction: leaving the matter entirety to professional medical judgment and the conscience of the individual.

[Course 2] [Description] [How to use it] [Introduction] [Conception] [Pregnancy] [Birth] [Infertility] [Contraception] [Abortion] [Unwanted Pregnancies] [A Moral Dilemma] [Differing Views] [A Medical Issue] [A Legal Issue] [World-wide Statistics] [Historical Notes] [Abortion Methods] [Additional Reading] [Examination]