Abortion

Overview

Abortion is the killing and removal of a fetus before birth. It is generally only an issue with regard to human birth, where it is forbidden by many religions and opposed by others. It is also illegal in some countries, and more countries make it illegal as the fetus comes closer to term.

In the United States, proponents of legalized abortion generally describe themselves as "pro-choice", while those who seek to restrict or criminalize abortion generally describe themselves as "pro-life". Feelings on both sides tend to run very high, but extremists on the "pro-life" seem to have a greater tendency towards extreme actions, e.g. making threats against doctors who perform abortions, and even occasional acts of bodily harm or murder.

Sub-issues

The policy debate is mainly over the following two sub-issues:

Under what circumstances (if any) should abortion be legal?
Under what circumstances (if any) should abortion be publicly funded?

Notes

Need some documentation about extremism on either side; it should be easy enough to find news items about pro-lifers bombing or vandalizing abortion clinics, but I'd also like to hear about anything bad done in the name of pro-choice. Items about arguably positive actions taken by either side may also be relevant, e.g. the woman who goes around buying up abortion clinics and changing their mission to be consistent with the pro-life point of view – which is at least a peaceful and lawful method of working against abortion even if you don't agree with the goal. --Woozle 12:40, 2 August 2006 (EDT)

Reference

Wikipedia: |Abortion| |Abortion debate|

Effects

2005-09-11 Orson Scott Card reiterates an argument (originally posed in the book Freakonomics) that the legalization of abortion in the U.S. has led to a dramatic decrease in the crime rate two decades later: http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2005-09-11-1.html
- Obviously this does not prove a connection, but the evidence deserves further examination.
- If a connection can be established, then there also remains the ethical question of whether a decline in crime is worth the cost of the increase in abortions, to which some groups might well answer "no". (Most groups would probably base their answer on the questions of how much crime and how many more abortions, while hardliners will tend to be unwavering.)

Future Effects

Currently there is an in utero test for Down syndrome. That testing, combined with abortion-on-demand, has made people with Down syndrome an endangered population. By some estimates, 90 percent of these people—who, if allowed to live, can live happy and healthy lives—are aborted. What is to stop parents from aborting children who are are a specific sex? As science progresses, there are more and more tests that can be performed in utero. What is the next issue what will provoke abortions? Hair color? Political affiliation?

My mistake, the next issue appears to be that doctors want to "screen out" all male embryos that may contract autism due to family history. [1]

Positions

1995-03-25 Pope John Paul II restates the Catholic Church's position on abortion and other "life" issues, with links to keyword indices

News

2006-06-21 Anti-Choice Legislators Have Gone Too Far (should eventually go in anti-abortion article)
2006-01-27 Abortion-rights and anti-abortion groups share some values

Humor

2006-08-01 Thinking of the children (D.C. Simpson, I Drew This): right-to-life vs. early childhood welfare