abortion
For thousands of years of western civilization, abortion was generally illegal after "quickening" (the point at about four months into pregnancy when a baby kicks). This tradition can be traced back at least to the Ancient Greeks. In his book "Politics," Aristotle said that "the line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive." [1] Aristotle thus contended that the right to life generally accrues earlier than birth and irrespective of whether the baby is strong enough to survive after birth (i.e. viability). This broad standard of Aristotle leaves plenty of room for special rules and exceptions in order to allow some late abortions for the life of the mother, rape, incest, grave fetal deformity, maiming of the mother, et cetera. [2] Quickening usually occurs at least two months before viability. Many people, including myself, advocate drawing a line between lawful and unlawful abortion no later than four months after conception but no earlier than the end of the embryonic stage. This happens to be what the vast majority of people generally believes. [3] Because the abortion pill RU486 is only effective on an embryo up until the ninth week of pregnancy, I have loudly su
Forced pregnancy is not something to which any civilized society should aspire, and doctors who perform pre-viability abortions generally ought to have immunity from punishment. Penalties can be imposed on such a woman even after allowing her to get a safe pre-viability abortion. Common reasons for these delays in terminating a pregnancy include denial of pregnancy, menstrual irregularity preceding pregnancy, physician delay, ambivalence towards termination, major or minor fetal abnormality, and unexpected threats to maternal health or comfort. People like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. It is sadly true that many women have been oppressed, forced into pregnancy, forced out of pregnancy, beaten, pushed around, and generally subjugated in a vast number of instances over the millennia. If a pregnancy is biologically healthy, is well past the first trimester, and was voluntarily conceived, then there should be some sort of abortion penalty absent extraordinary circumstances. Should a woman be physically restrained so she will bring her advanced pregnancy to the point of viability? No, not in my opinion. Anthony strongly believed that abortion, generally speaking, is a crime. Speaking of which, here's a hyperlink full of quotes from great women who won for all women the right to vote. More importantly, a fetus can think, and has been proven to remember things (like the voice of its mother) after it is born. It is simply wrong to assert that abortion would be totally legal if men as well as women got pregnant; the fact is that many states today punish men who kill a pre-viability fetus with the same penalties given to murderers.
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