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Ray,

Thanks for a very interesting mail. It really emphasizes how complicated and
sensitive this issue is!!

Nic 57/15

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 10:03 AM, rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> [edit] Legal: History of abortion law
> See also: Timeline of reproductive rights legislation and Abortion law
> The history of abortion law dates back to ancient times and has impacted
> men and women in a variety of ways in different times and places. The Code
> of Hammurabi, which was promulgated ca. 1760 BC, contains the earliest known
> laws about abortion. The code required monetary compensation for causing a
> woman to miscarry.[69][70] While laws regulating acceptable forms of
> abortion were found with the Romans, widespread regulation to have an
> abortion did not begin until the 13th century.[citation needed]
>
> There were no laws against abortion in the Roman Republic and early Roman
> Empire, as Roman law did not regard a fetus as distinct from the woman's
> body, and abortion was not infrequently practiced to control family size, to
> maintain one's physical appearance, or because of adultery. In 211 AD, at
> the intersection of the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, abortion
> was outlawed for a period of time as violating the rights of parents,
> punishable by temporary exile.[55] However, late Roman legislation is
> generally derived from a concern for population growth, and not as an issue
> of morality.[citation needed]
>
> Historically, it is unclear how often the ethics of abortion (induced
> abortion) was discussed, but widespread regulation did not begin until the
> 18th century. One factor in abortion restrictions was a socio-economic
> struggle between male physicians and female mid-wives.[citation needed] In
> the 18th century, English and American common law allowed abortion if
> performed before "quickening." By the late 19th century many nations had
> passed laws that banned abortion. In the later half of the 20th century most
> Western nations began to legalize abortion.[citation needed]
>
> According to English common law, abortion after fetal movement or
> "quickening" was punishable as homicide, and abortion was also punishable
> "if the foetus is already formed" but not yet quickened, according to Henry
> Bracton.[71]
>
>
> [edit] 17th century to 19th century
>  a.. 1765 - Post-quickening abortion was no longer considered homicide in
> England, but William Blackstone called it "a very heinous misdemeanor".[72]
>  b.. 1803 - United Kingdom enacts the Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act
> 1803, making abortion after quickening a capital crime, and providing lesser
> penalties for the felony of abortion before quickening.[73]
>  c.. 1821 - Connecticut passes first statute that forbids using poison to
> induce miscarriages.[74]
>  d.. 1842 - The Shogunate in Japan bans induced abortion in Edo. The law
> does not affect the rest of the country.[25]
>  e.. 1861 - The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Offences
> against the Person Act 1861 which outlaws abortion.[citation needed]
>  f.. 1869 - Pope Pius IX declared that abortion under any circumstance was
> gravely immoral (mortal sin), and, that anyone who participated in an
> abortion in any material way had by virtue of that act excommunicated
> themselves from the Church. In the same year, the Parliament of Canada
> unifies criminal law in all provinces, banning abortion.[citation needed]
>  g.. 1873 - The passage of the Comstock Law in the United States makes it a
> crime to sell, distribute, or own abortion-related products and services, or
> to publish information on how to obtain them (see advertisement of abortion
> services).[citation needed]
>  h.. 1820-1900 - Primarily through the efforts of physicians in the
> American Medical Association and legislators, most abortions in the U.S.
> were outlawed.[75]
>
> [edit] 1920s to 1960s
>  a.. 1920 - Lenin legalized all abortions in the Soviet Union.[76]
>  b.. 1931 - Mexico as first country in the world legalized abortion in case
> of rape.[citation needed]
>  c.. 1932 - Poland as first country in Europe outside Soviet Union
> legalized abortion in cases of rape and threat to maternal health.[77]
>  d.. 1935 - Iceland became the first Western country to legalize
> therapeutic abortion under limited circumstances.[citation needed]
>  e.. 1935 - Nazi Germany amended its eugenics law, to promote abortion for
> women who have hereditary disorders.[78] The law allowed abortion if a woman
> gave her permission, and if the fetus was not yet viable,[79][80] and for
> purposes of so-called racial hygiene.[81][82]
>  f.. 1936 - Joseph Stalin reversed most parts of Lenin's legalization of
> abortion in the Soviet Union to increase population growth. Stalin's
> reversal was repealed in 1955.[83]
>  g.. 1936 - Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the SS, creates the "Reich Central
> Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion". Himmler, inspired
> by bureaucrats of the Race and Settlement Main Office, hoped to reverse a
> decline in the "Aryan" birthrate which he attributed to homosexuality among
> men and abortions among healthy Aryan women,[84] which were not allowed
> under the 1935 law, but nevertheless practiced. Reich Secretary Martin
> Bormann however refused to implement law in this respect, which would revert
> the 1935 law.[citation needed]
>  h.. 1938 - In Britain, Dr. Aleck Bourne aborted the pregnancy of a young
> girl who had been raped by soldiers. Bourne was acquitted after turning
> himself into authorities. The legal precedent of allowing abortion in order
> to avoid mental or physical damage was picked up by the Commonwealth of
> Nations.[citation needed]
>  i.. 1938 - Abortion legalized on a limited basis in Sweden.[citation
> needed]
>  j.. 1948 - The Eugenic Protection Act in Japan expanded the circumstances
> in which abortion is allowed.[85]
>  k.. 1959 - The American Law Institute drafts a model state abortion law to
> make legal abortions accessible.[74]
>  l.. 1961 - California state legislature introduces an abortion reform law
> based on the American Law Institute model.[74]
>  m.. 1966 - Mississippi reformed its abortion law and became the first U.S.
> state to allow abortion in cases of rape.[citation needed]
>  n.. 1967 - The Abortion Act (effective 1968) legalized abortion in the
> United Kingdom (except in Northern Ireland). In the U.S., Colorado,
> California, and North Carolina reformed their abortion laws based on the
> 1962 ALI Model Penal Code (MPC).
>  o.. 1967-1970 - Colorado becomes first state to loosen its abortion laws
> followed by Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New
> Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, and Virginia.[74]
>  p.. 1968 - President Lyndon Johnson's Committee on The Status of Women
> releases a report calling for a repeal of all abortion laws.[74]
>  q.. 1969 - Canada passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, which
> began to allow abortion for selective reasons.[citation needed]
>  r.. 1969 - Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon introduces legislation to
> legalize abortion in Washington D.C.; no action is taken.[74]
>  s.. 1969 - The ruling in the Victorian case of R v Davidson defined for
> the first time which abortions are lawful in Australia.[citation needed]
>  t.. 1969-1973 - The Jane Collective operated in Chicago, offering illegal
> abortions.[citation needed]
>
> [edit] 1970s to present
>  a.. 1970-1970 - Hawaii, New York, Alaska, Washington and Florida repealed
> their abortion laws and allowed abortion on demand; South Carolina and
> Virginia reformed their abortion laws based on the Model Penal
> Code.[citation needed]
>  b.. 1971 - The Indian Parliament under the Prime Ministership of a lady
> Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, passes Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act
> 1971 (more commonly referred to as simply MTP Act 1971). India thus becomes
> one of the earliest nations to pass this Act. The Act gains importance,
> considering India had traditionally been a very conservative country in
> these matters. Most notably there was no similar Act in several US states
> around the same time.[86]
>  c.. 1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, declared all the
> individual state bans on abortion during the first trimester to be
> unconstitutional, allowed states to regulate but not proscribe abortion
> during the second trimester, and allowed states to proscribe abortion during
> the third trimester unless abortion is in the best interest of the woman's
> physical or mental health. The Court legalized abortion in all trimesters
> when a woman's doctor believes the abortion is necessary for her physical or
> mental health.[citation needed]
>  d.. 1973-1980 - France (1975), West Germany (1976), New Zealand (1977),
> Italy (1978), and the Netherlands (1980) legalized abortion in limited
> circumstances.[citation needed]
>  e.. 1976-1977 - Senator Harry Hyde of Illinois sponsors the Hyde
> Amendment, which passes, allows states to prohibit the use of Medicaid
> funding for abortions.[74]
>  f.. 1979 - The People's Republic of China enacted a one-child policy,
> leaving some women to either undergo an abortion or violate the policy and
> face economic penalties in some circumstances.[citation needed]
>  g.. 1983 - Ireland, by popular referendum, added an amendment to its
> Constitution recognizing "the right to life of the unborn." Abortion is
> still illegal in Ireland, except as urgent medical procedures to save a
> woman's life.[citation needed]
>  h.. 1988 - France legalized the "abortion pill" mifepristone (RU-486). In
> R. v. Morgentaler, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down regulations of
> abortion for violating a woman's constitutional "security of person";
> Canadian law has not regulated abortion ever since.[citation needed]
>  i.. 1989 - Webster v. Reproductive Health Services reinforces the state's
> right to prevent all publicly funded facilities from providing or assisting
> with abortion services.[74]
>  j.. 1990 - The Abortion Act in the UK was amended so that abortion is
> legal only up to 24 weeks, rather than 28, except in unusual cases.[citation
> needed]
>  k.. 1992 - In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court of the United
> States overturned the trimester framework in Roe v. Wade, making it legal
> for states to proscribe abortion after the point of fetal viability,
> excepting instances that would risk the woman's health.[citation needed]
>  l.. 1993 - Poland banned abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, severe
> congenital disorders, or threat to the life of the pregnant woman.[citation
> needed]
>  m.. 1994 - Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is passed by the
> United States Congress to forbid the use of force or obstruction to prevent
> someone from providing or receiving reproductive health services.[74]
>  n.. 1996 - Republic of South Africa the 'Choice on Termination of
> Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996' comes into effect (Repealing the 'Abortion and
> Sterilization Act 2 of 1975' which only allowed abortions in certain
> circumstances) lawfully permitting abortions by choice. Act is often
> challenged in Court.[citation needed]
>  o.. 1998 - Republic of South Africa the abortion question is finally
> answered when the Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court of South
> Africa in Christian Lawyers Association and Others v Minister of Health and
> Others held that abortions are legal in terms of the Constitution of the
> Republic of South Africa.[87]
>  p.. 1999 - The United States Congress passed a ban on intact dilation and
> extraction, which President Bill Clinton vetoed.
>  q.. 2000 - Mifepristone (RU-486) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
> Administration (FDA). In Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court of the
> United States overturned a Nebraska state law that banned intact dilation
> and extraction.[citation needed]
>  r.. 2003 - The U.S. enacted the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and
> President George W. Bush signed it into law. After the law was challenged in
> three appeals courts, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was constitutional
> because, unlike the earlier Nebraska state law, it was not vague or overly
> broad. The court also held that banning the procedure did not constitute an
> "undue burden," even without a health exception.[citation needed] (see also:
> Gonzales v. Carhart)
>  s.. 2007 - Supreme Court upholds the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of
> 2003.[74]
>  t.. 2007 - The Parliament of Portugal voted to legalize abortion during
> the first ten weeks of pregnancy. This followed a referendum that, while
> revealing that a majority of Portuguese voters favored legalization of
> early-stage abortions, failed due to low voter turnout. Although, at the 2nd
> referendum, the vote for the legalization won. President Cavaco Silva signed
> the measure and it went on effect.[88]
>  u.. 2007 - The government of Mexico City legalizes abortion during the
> first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and offers free abortions. On August 28, 2008,
> the Mexican Supreme Court upholds the law.[89]
>  v.. 2008 - The Australian state of Victoria passes a bill which
> decriminalizes abortion, making it legally accessible to women in the first
> 24 weeks of the pregnancy.[citation needed]
>
> Rayilyn Brown
> Director AZNPF
> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
> [log in to unmask]
>
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