BISHIOP JOHN KING MUSSIO JC’S FOR LIFE PRESENTS

1. BISHIOP JOHN KING MUSSIO JC’S FOR LIFE PRESENTS

3. Abortion and Other Aspects Related to It

4. Abortion

5. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death.

6. In the United States Of America 4,000 abortion take place on an average day.

7. Worldwide, however, 42 million abortions are estimated to take place annually with 22 million of these occurring safely and 20 million unsafely.

8. While maternal mortality seldom results from safe abortions, unsafe abortions result in 70,000 deaths and 5 million disabilities per year.

9. History of Abortion

10. The practice of abortion dates back to ancient times.

11. Pregnancies were terminated through a number of methods, including the administration of abortifacient herbs, the use of sharpened implements, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques.

12. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion, is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus in 1550 BC.

13. According to Chinese folklore, the legendary Emperor Shennong prescribed the use of mercury to induce abortions nearly 5000 years ago.

14. Many of the methods employed in early and primitive cultures were non-surgical.

15. Physical activities like strenuous labor, climbing, paddling, weightlifting, or diving were a common technique. Others included the use of irritant leaves, fasting, bloodletting, pouring hot water onto the abdomen, and lying on a heated coconut shell.

16. In primitive cultures, techniques developed through observation, adaptation of obstetrical methods, and transculturation.

17. Archaeological discoveries indicate early surgical attempts at the extraction of a fetus; however, such methods are not believed to have been common, given the infrequency with which they are mentioned in ancient medical texts.

18. Japanese documents show records of induced abortion from as early as the 12th century.

19. It became much more prevalent during the Edo period, especially among the peasant class, who were hit hardest by the recurrent famines and high taxation of the age.

20. . Statues of the Boddhisattva Jizo, erected in memory of an abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, or young childhood death, began appearing at least as early as 1710 at a temple in Yokohama.

21. In Greece, the Stoics believed the fetus to be plantlike in nature, and not an animal until the moment of birth, when it finally breathed air.

22. They therefore found abortion morally acceptable. The Greek playwright Aristophanes noted the abortifacient property of pennyroyal in 421 BC, through a humorous reference in his comedy, Peace.

23. In Rome, abortion was practiced with little or no sense of shame.

24. There were also opposing voices, most notably Hippocrates of Cos and the Roman Emperor Augustus.

25. Aristotle wrote that, The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.

26. : In contrast to their pagan environment, Christians generally shunned abortion, drawing upon early Christian writings such as the Didache which says

27. "…do not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant."

28. However, his beliefs on earlier- stage abortion were similar to Aristotle's, though he could neither deny nor affirm whether such unformed fetuses would be resurrected as full people at the time of the second coming.

29. In the mid to late 19th century, during the fight for women's suffrage in the U.S., many first-wave feminists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton opposed abortion

30. In the newspaper she operated with Susan B. Anthony, The Revolution, an anonymous contributor signing "A" wrote in 1869 about the subject, arguing that instead of merely attempting to pass a law against abortion, the root cause must also be addressed.

31. Simply passing an anti-abortion law would, the writer stated, "be only mowing off the top of the noxious weed, while the root remains.

32. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.

33. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime."

34. Around 1970, during second-wave feminism, abortion and reproductive rights were unifying issues among various women's rights groups in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Britain, Norway, France, Germany, and Italy.

35. History of Abortion In The United States Of America

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

37. 1900'S Most abortions in the US had been outlawed by 1900

38. 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.

39. Some early feminists, like Susan B. Anthony, wrote against abortion.

40. They opposed abortion which at the time was an unsafe medical procedure for women, endangering their health and life.

41. These feminists believed that only the achievement of women's equality and freedom would end the need for abortion. They wrote that prevention was more important than punishment, and blamed circumstances, laws and the men they believed drove women to abortions.

42. By 1965, all fifty states banned abortion

43. with some exceptions which varied by state: to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest, or if the fetus was deformed.

44. Groups like the National Abortion Rights Action League and the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion worked to liberalize anti-abortion laws.

45. The Supreme Court in 1973, in the case of Roev. Wade, declared most existing state abortion laws unconstitutional.

46. ROW V. WADE

47. Roe v. Wade is the historic Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas interpretation of abortion law and making abortion legal in the United States that took place on January 22, 1973.

48. Roe v. Wade affected all state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated by Roe v. Wade.

49. This decision ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy.

50. 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.