Abortion: the new debate
Callahan, D.
Primary Care 13(2): 255-262
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0095-4543 PMID: 3523563 Document Number: 282156
A range of medical and scientific developments that have occurred since the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade have important implications for the future of abortion. Included among these developments are the rise of neonatal intensive care and the subsequent lowering of the time of fetal viability, the widespread use of the sonogram, growing concern for the association between fetal health and women's occupational health, and the dilemmas posed by late abortions that can result in a live birth. A key feature of both the legal developments and medical changes since Roe v Wade has been their focus on evaluation of the fetus rather than the rights of women. Despite the complexities of the situation, there remain important reasons for keeping abortion legal in the US. Should the abortion decision be overturned, a rapid return to high rates of illegal abortion can be expected. To deprive women of choice in the area of procreation would also lower their status as human beings. If the prochoice movement demonstrates an unwillingness to face the implications of the new medical and scientific knowledge and recognize the difficulty of the abortion decision, it will open itself to charges that it is as dogmatic and rigid as antiabortion forces. There is a need for open discussion of the moral nature of abortion decisions and recognition that legal freedom does not necessarily confer moral wisdom.