Does anyone know how abortion even became a legal question?

[napi21]

I had a discussion with a friend last night about this, and neither of us knew the answer. IMO this should be an issue between a woman,, her doctor, her God, and her husband. How did it ever get into the legal system thus becoming a political issue as well?

[slackmaster]

1. A couple of links

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/a/abortion.htm

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html

If you look at anti-choice sources, most will tell you that it was always illegal until it started being "liberalized" in the 1960s. That's bogus.

Here is a pretty decent one from an anti-abortion source: http://www.cbctrust.com/history_law_religion.php

[Warpy]

3. Antiabortion laws were first written in the latter half

of the nineteenth century because septic abortions were killing too many women. It was public health law that is no longer needed now that the techniques have been made safer than childbirth is.

[rasputin1952]

6. Yes, abortion was legal throughout this nations history, until...

the # of women dying under septic conditions became alarming. The initial laws were drawn to keep women alive.

Disastrously, the # of women who were dying increased dramatically. With asepsis becoming more the norm, it was time to return to legal abortion.

Abortion was always practiced in this nation legally, until the physicians put a stop to the practice, and then it was the physicians who pushed it back into legality.

[napi21]

8. Do you have any idea when it became illegal?

I think that's what I'm looking for. I've heard it used to be legal and some group decided that was wrong. You say it was Drs. It may well have been, but do you have any idea when?

[rasputin1952]

11. Ack...I have research that one, buti have the book...

it will take me a little bit to come up w/the date...if no on answers that before I get back, I'll have it in about an hour..:)

[rasputin1952]

13. In 1857, DR. Horatio Storer began the Right to Life movement.

In 1859 the AMA called for the "general suppression" of abortions. In 1871 the AMA believed that criminal abortions performed by nonmedial professionals, were based on charactarizing the woamn as selfish and immoral.

However, in 1821 CN became the first state to outlaw abortions, by 1840 there were 8 states that had outlawed abortion.

[Warpy]

2. The Roman Catholic Church has been up in arms for years

and the Protestant fundies joined them when it became clear it was a way to boost collection plate amounts. Then Reagan came along and he's really the one who propelled it into a truly political issue by putting an antichoice plank in the GOP platform, thereby securing the religious extremist bloc as GOP voters.

It's been a political football ever since then.

The bottom line is that antichoice forces are striving to force religious doctrine onto everyone in this country, whether or not they share it.

This is wrong.

[rasputin1952]

4. Nutshell answer...

In the 40's/50's women were dying at alarming rates from illegal abortions. Physicians and the AMA got together and lobbied congress to put an end to the carnage. Congress left it up to the states, nice way to avoid the situation.

Roe v Wade was used as a test case to get the Federal Gov't involved. Physicians once again pursued the issue, this time w/many expert witnesses, sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and a slew of other demographics. It had the desired impact, and the USSC made sure that this would be an issue once again, not necessarily conciously, but once the RTL's got a hold of the situation....:(

In essence, that is it in a nutshell. Can't recall names/dates w/o research, but the # of women dying was appalling.

[slackmaster]

5. True enough, but it wasn't always illegal back to the dawn of time

At least not everywhere.

[napi21]

7. That's what I had heard. It wasn't always illegal.

That's the reason I asked the question here. Somebody usually comes up with the realistic answer. I did do some google searching on this, but didn't come up with anything .

I am assuming the Quakers had something to do with this issue, much the same as they forced prohibition on the US, only to have reality shoot it down years later.

[rasputin1952]

15. Quakers were and are quite open, of course, there are elements

that always take extremist views, although that is rare foe Quakers. The push for Prohibition had little to do w/Quakers except that a good # of those that hopped on the wagon were Quakers. It was really a move by women who were sick and tired of their husbands being in a constant state of inebriation which often led to abuse/neglect. It was for psychologic reasons that "Molly Hachet" set out on the quest ot do anawy with drinking, she had been abused and abandoned by a drunk, and felt that everyone had to be like that that drank, especially men.

[rasputin1952]

9. Abortion was legal in this country until the latter part of the

19th early 20th century.

Abortions have been going on throughout time, w/very few legal complications. Puritans had abortions, as did many other groups that came here saw it as a sanctioned medical procedure.

I can get really long winded about this, but suffice it to say I believe strongly that abortion is a personal decision between the woman and a physician. Essentially, what a woman does w/her body is no business of mine, therefore, abortion should be safe, legal and on demand.

[TheWraith]

10. Actually, the rates were never quite as alarming as has been made out at times.

Some sources depict the days pre-Roe as an unmitigated bloodbath, but the reality is that fatalities were pretty rare. Roe wasn't a public safety crisis, it was the decomissioning of a law no longer required.

[rasputin1952]

12. This has always been an area of contention since records are

either nonexistant or just plain done under "code", to protect the individual from prying eyes.

Also, many were done in areas far from where conception took place, so records, if any, would be extremely difficult to come across.

I believe that everyone raises the figures dramatically, and to pinpoint a number that would even come close to reality would be near impossible.

[Mend]

14. the Hippocratic Oath, 4th century bc, is against doctors performing abortions

that means unethical, not illegal.

[Cerridwen]

16. Started being outlawed in the 1820s

In the United States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy.

Through the efforts primarily of physicians, the American Medical Association, and legislators, most abortions in the US had been outlawed by 1900.

Illegal abortions were still frequent, though they became less frequent during the reign of the Comstock Law which essentially banned birth control information and devices.

Some early feminists, like Susan B. Anthony, wrote against abortion. They opposed abortion which at the time was an unsafe medical procedure for women, endangering their health and life. These feminists believed that only the achievement of women's equality and freedom would end the need for abortion.

<snip> and more at link

Also read previous posters info about the doc who led a crusade against the "immoral" women who had abortions.

Since someone upthread mentioned the Catholic Church - here's a quick link to their history in this nightmare.

National Right to Life Committee

This large group is perhaps the best known of all the national pro-life organizations. Spawned in the early 1970s by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, it remains predominantly Catholic but does have a significant proportion of Protestant members. Focusing on mainstream pro-life legislative goals, NRLC has given a lot of attention to late-term abortion, the Child Custody Protection Act (making it illegal to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion) and identifying presidential candidates’ positions on abortion. NRLC also files amicus briefs on major abortion cases. In an effort to appear more responsive to real people, it has developed special population programs for adolescents (National Teens for Life); “victims of post-abortion syndrome” (American Victims of Violence); National College Students for Life; and Black Americans for Life. (emphasis added)

<snip> and much more at link

edit to add: this is a U.S. centric post