fgarvb1
We are in for it now.
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http://www.allaboutpopularissues.org/history-of-abortion-faq.htm
What is the 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 wasn't 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, showed 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.
Pro-abortion - Definition
Pro-abortion is the belief in the right to choose to terminate a fetus (fertilized embryo). Pro-abortion is also a movement, which fights for the rights of women to have a choice to end unwanted pregnancies.
Pro-abortion - History of the Movement
Pro-abortion advocates fought and won the legalization of abortion in Colorado and California in 1967. Pro-abortion advocates continued on their path and by 1970 sixteen states allowed abortion. New York, Hawaii, California and Alaska had more liberal policies, allowing abortion on demand up to 20 weeks into pregnancy. However Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia only allowed abortion in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormalities or to protect the life of the mother. The pro-abortion movement was slowed and many appeals were filed to reverse these legislative policies. All other states refused to allow abortions.
Pro-abortionists' greatest victory was won in "Roe vs. Wade". Through this lawsuit, the Supreme Court legalized abortion in all 50 states on January 22, 1973. Although the popular vote was against abortion on demand, "Roe vs. Wade" became the foundation of the pro-abortion agenda.
Pro-abortion - Today
The pro-abortion agenda has matured from back alley abortions, to abortion on demand in all 50 states up to 24-25 weeks after fertilization, and even to the point of allowing partial birth abortions. Pro-abortion advocates believe in the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. There are even laws now dictating abortion rights of teenagers and their parents. Is the law on the side of pro-abortion, or isn't it?
Pro-abortion - The Problem
Pro-abortion - Is the verdict really in? Abortion is legal in all 50 states. On the other hand, murder is illegal in all 50 states. Herein lies the problem -- How can we say it is against the law to kill and allow the abortion rate of 1 in 4 pregnancies to continue? When does the origin of life begin? Were we created at conception, knit together in our mother's womb right from the beginning? Or is it the air in our lungs that changes our status from a fetus to a life? Of course, the pro-abortion position must advocate that life doesn't begin until some time late in the gestation process. However, God's position has always been that we are each a unique individual created by Him for a special purpose from the moment of conception. Recent discoveries in biochemistry confirm what the Bible has declared for centuries, that each of us is "fearfully and wonderfully made." From the moment the sperm miraculously fertilizes the egg, God begins the process of creating our inmost being and knits us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-14).
Pro-abortion - A Final Thought
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, allowed abortions in the first six months of pregnancy. Twenty-three years later, Norma McCorvey, who was the "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade suit, was interviewed by USA Today. She stated that once, while employed at a clinic when no one was in: "I went into the procedure room and laid down on the table... trying to imagine what it would be like having an abortion... I broke down and cried." On ABC's World News Tonight, Norma McCorvey said: "I think abortion's wrong. I think what I did with Roe v. Wade was wrong." (American Minute with Bill Federer, January 22, 2003)
Partial Birth Abortion - Finding Comfort in a Huge Myth
Partial Birth Abortion was the topic in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The following is a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal responding to the article (source: Wall Street Journal; May 14, 2001).
Partial Birth Abortion - Letter to the Editor
The Journal has informed its readers that partial birth abortion is a "rare" procedure, "typically performed when the life of the mother is at risk, or the fetus is determined to have severe abnormalities" ("Drive to Ban Abortion Procedure Slows," April 27.) But those claims, fabricated by pro-abortion advocacy groups in 1995, had been thoroughly discredited by early 1997.
The Journal said that "critics . . . contend the procedure sometimes is used in less dire circumstances." Actually, it was abortionists and their paid spokespersons who admitted that partial birth abortion is routinely used for purely elective abortions, usually in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy. For example, Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, told The New York Times that "in the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus" (Feb. 26, 1997).
Mr. Fitzsimmons elsewhere estimated that 4,000-5,000 abortions annually are performed by the partial birth method. He expressed regret for his own role in previously propagating what he called a "party line," stating, "I lied through my teeth." The claim that partialbirth abortions are used only or mostly in unusual medical circumstances was also disproved by reporters for the Hackensack (N.J.) Record and the Washington Post, among others. These reporters interviewed numerous abortionists, who readily acknowledged that they routinely use the method for purely elective abortions.
In January 1997, the PBS media criticism program "Media Matters" treated as a case study in bad reporting the news media's earlier, uncritical dissemination of the abortion lobby's lies about partial birth abortion.
For a respected national newspaper to resurrect such blatant misinformation four years later may demonstrate how attached some journalists are to comforting myths about abortion.
Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington
Partial Birth Abortion - Don’t Fall Into Complacency
Partial Birth Abortion is utterly grotesque. If you don’t know how the procedure works, or when it’s happening, then find out. For us to sit back and allow partial birth abortion to slip into mainstream acceptance – to say this is a political issue, not a moral/ethical/religious issue is ridiculous and sad. Educate yourself – then speak up!
What is the 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 wasn't 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, showed 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.
Pro-abortion - Definition
Pro-abortion is the belief in the right to choose to terminate a fetus (fertilized embryo). Pro-abortion is also a movement, which fights for the rights of women to have a choice to end unwanted pregnancies.
Pro-abortion - History of the Movement
Pro-abortion advocates fought and won the legalization of abortion in Colorado and California in 1967. Pro-abortion advocates continued on their path and by 1970 sixteen states allowed abortion. New York, Hawaii, California and Alaska had more liberal policies, allowing abortion on demand up to 20 weeks into pregnancy. However Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia only allowed abortion in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormalities or to protect the life of the mother. The pro-abortion movement was slowed and many appeals were filed to reverse these legislative policies. All other states refused to allow abortions.
Pro-abortionists' greatest victory was won in "Roe vs. Wade". Through this lawsuit, the Supreme Court legalized abortion in all 50 states on January 22, 1973. Although the popular vote was against abortion on demand, "Roe vs. Wade" became the foundation of the pro-abortion agenda.
Pro-abortion - Today
The pro-abortion agenda has matured from back alley abortions, to abortion on demand in all 50 states up to 24-25 weeks after fertilization, and even to the point of allowing partial birth abortions. Pro-abortion advocates believe in the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. There are even laws now dictating abortion rights of teenagers and their parents. Is the law on the side of pro-abortion, or isn't it?
Pro-abortion - The Problem
Pro-abortion - Is the verdict really in? Abortion is legal in all 50 states. On the other hand, murder is illegal in all 50 states. Herein lies the problem -- How can we say it is against the law to kill and allow the abortion rate of 1 in 4 pregnancies to continue? When does the origin of life begin? Were we created at conception, knit together in our mother's womb right from the beginning? Or is it the air in our lungs that changes our status from a fetus to a life? Of course, the pro-abortion position must advocate that life doesn't begin until some time late in the gestation process. However, God's position has always been that we are each a unique individual created by Him for a special purpose from the moment of conception. Recent discoveries in biochemistry confirm what the Bible has declared for centuries, that each of us is "fearfully and wonderfully made." From the moment the sperm miraculously fertilizes the egg, God begins the process of creating our inmost being and knits us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-14).
Pro-abortion - A Final Thought
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, allowed abortions in the first six months of pregnancy. Twenty-three years later, Norma McCorvey, who was the "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade suit, was interviewed by USA Today. She stated that once, while employed at a clinic when no one was in: "I went into the procedure room and laid down on the table... trying to imagine what it would be like having an abortion... I broke down and cried." On ABC's World News Tonight, Norma McCorvey said: "I think abortion's wrong. I think what I did with Roe v. Wade was wrong." (American Minute with Bill Federer, January 22, 2003)
Partial Birth Abortion - Finding Comfort in a Huge Myth
Partial Birth Abortion was the topic in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The following is a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal responding to the article (source: Wall Street Journal; May 14, 2001).
Partial Birth Abortion - Letter to the Editor
The Journal has informed its readers that partial birth abortion is a "rare" procedure, "typically performed when the life of the mother is at risk, or the fetus is determined to have severe abnormalities" ("Drive to Ban Abortion Procedure Slows," April 27.) But those claims, fabricated by pro-abortion advocacy groups in 1995, had been thoroughly discredited by early 1997.
The Journal said that "critics . . . contend the procedure sometimes is used in less dire circumstances." Actually, it was abortionists and their paid spokespersons who admitted that partial birth abortion is routinely used for purely elective abortions, usually in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy. For example, Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, told The New York Times that "in the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus" (Feb. 26, 1997).
Mr. Fitzsimmons elsewhere estimated that 4,000-5,000 abortions annually are performed by the partial birth method. He expressed regret for his own role in previously propagating what he called a "party line," stating, "I lied through my teeth." The claim that partialbirth abortions are used only or mostly in unusual medical circumstances was also disproved by reporters for the Hackensack (N.J.) Record and the Washington Post, among others. These reporters interviewed numerous abortionists, who readily acknowledged that they routinely use the method for purely elective abortions.
In January 1997, the PBS media criticism program "Media Matters" treated as a case study in bad reporting the news media's earlier, uncritical dissemination of the abortion lobby's lies about partial birth abortion.
For a respected national newspaper to resurrect such blatant misinformation four years later may demonstrate how attached some journalists are to comforting myths about abortion.
Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington
Partial Birth Abortion - Don’t Fall Into Complacency
Partial Birth Abortion is utterly grotesque. If you don’t know how the procedure works, or when it’s happening, then find out. For us to sit back and allow partial birth abortion to slip into mainstream acceptance – to say this is a political issue, not a moral/ethical/religious issue is ridiculous and sad. Educate yourself – then speak up!
WTF?!
