Abortion
History of Abortion
The
history of abortion in America can be traced back to the early American
colonies. The people of this time were totally against any kind of abortion
until well into the 19th century.
In fact, it was considered a misdemeanor if you had
an abortion after what was called quickening (feeling life).
Most states considered the child in the womb to
have legal rights even after the death of the mother.
It was not until 1962 when there was organized
effort toward legalizing abortion even though physicians had written about the
abortion problem since 1933.
Different religions have different teachings about
abortion. It was most common in ancient Greece and Rome.
The Assyrians impaled women on stakes for
attempting abortion.
The Jewish Talmud teaches the fetus is not a person
and has no rights.
In the year 1312, The Church in the Council of
Vienne embraced the view that abortion was considered homicide only after the
fetus was already formed, which was usually at the end of the first trimester.
But, then, sperm cells, when examined under a
microscope in the seventeenth century were thought to show a fully formed human
being.
It was then that most Catholics were excommunicated
if they engaged in the act of abortion.
To continue on in the history of abortion, in the
early 1800s, it was discovered that human life did not actually begin when the
expectant mother "felt life," but, rather, at the time of
fertilization.
So, the British Parliament in 1869 passed what was
called "Offenses Against the Persons Act," dropping the felony punishment back to fertilization.
That began a sequence of various states setting
their own law against abortion, and by 1860, 85% of the population lived in
states prohibiting abortion with new laws.
As far as convictions were concerned, abortionists,
if convicted, were sent to jail for varying lengths of time, and women were
never implicated in undergoing or soliciting abortions.
Even when women were accused by an abortionist of
being an accomplice, women were never convicted. But, because there were no
accurate methods for diagnosing early pregnancy, there was nothing medically or
legally binding to convict the abortionist.
The only way to know a woman was pregnant was for
the doctor to hear the fetal heart, and that was only possible when the
expectant mother was four or five months along.
Prior to that, the abortionist could claim that her
menstrual period was late, or that she had some other problem, and all he did
was to bring on her period.
You cannot convict a person of murder unless the
body can be produced, and since the tissue could not be examined from the
woman's body, in a court of law, it was impossible to prove she had been
pregnant, or that the actions of the abortionist had terminated the pregnancy.
So, the only time an abortionist was prosecuted is
when the woman had been injured or killed.
In 1900, abortion had been banned at any time
during pregnancy (except when necessary to save the woman's life) by every
state in the Union. Why the reversal in views?
Religion had little to do with it, but rather,
drastic economic and social conversions were turning this country to an
urban-industrial society.
America was changing from having one of the highest
birthrates in the world to one of the lowest. Abortion played a role in that
change.
Then, in 1973, Roe v. Wade is the historic Supreme
Court decision overturning a Texas interpretation of abortion law and making
abortion legal in the United States.
The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with
her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without
restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to
privacy.
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