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Abortion

Abortion is a politically controversial issue in many Western countries, mainly
because it clashes with some Christian teachings on the sanctity of life. In the
past, by contrast, some communist societies had made abortion so easy that, in
the Soviet Union, for example, it was close to being the main method of birth
control. It is still extensively, and often compulsorily, practised in the People’s
Republic of China. The controversy revolves around two issues: the first is one
ofnatural rights, of a woman to decide whether she wants to give birth, and
of an unborn child to have life; the second concerns the level of church
interference in state policies. AlthoughRoman Catholicismis often seen as
having the most firm teachings against abortion,anti-clericalsentiments have
usually predominated in Europe, so that even Italy has a fairly liberal abortion
policy. Ireland, by contrast, with a tradition of state subservience to the church
on matters of private morality, still denies abortion in most circumstances. The
legalization of abortion more or less ‘on demand’ in Britain, in 1968, was
relatively uncontroversial, being carried out by a private member’s bill, with all
parties allowing their members a free vote; subsequent attempts to reverse or
substantially modify abortion legislation have been unsuccessful.
It is in the USA that abortion has been the most explosive political issue.
Until 1974 there was no federal law on abortion, the issue being treated, as are
most matters of private behaviour, as falling under the jurisdiction of the
individual states, with consequent variation of policy throughout the country.
In 1973 the Supreme Court, in itsRoe v. Wadedecision, ruled that the states
could only regulate abortion in limited ways, depending mainly on the stage of
pregnancy at which a woman sought an abortion. Arguments over the viability
of a foetus have become more problematic since the ruling, as medical science
continually lowers the age at which an infant might realistically hope to
survive, and consequently also at which the states might seek to intervene.
Both the Catholic Church and the increasingly politically-important Protes-
tantfundamentalistmovements have opposed theRoe v. Wadedecision ever
since, sometimes in violent ways. Anti-abortionists are particularly prominent
innew rightpolitics, but are present right across the political spectrum.