LECTURE
I. THE PROBLEM OF ABORTION
Definition: Is the expulsion of a living fetus from the
mother's womb before it is viable
Types:
1. Spontaneous abortion/miscarriage
2. Induced or procured abortion
a. Therapeutic - to save the life of the
mother - ex. cancerous uterus,
ectopic pregnancy
b. Eugenic - fetal abnormalities
c. Elective
Procedures:
Surgical:
1. 1st trimester
a. dilatation and curettage
b. vacuum suction
2. 2nd trimester - saline injection, above
cannot be used due to risk of bleed
3. late abortion – hysterotomy, similar to
ceasarian section
4. partial birth abortion - extraction of the
body of the fetus into the vagina before
the contents of the skull are sucked out,
killing the unborn, after which the intact
fetus is removed from the woman's body.
Presently considered and illegal
procedure
Medical:
1. mifepristone – RU-846 or the “abortion pill”;
blocks hormone production for attachment
then Prostaglandin is given after 48 hours, to
trigger contractions and bleeding
2. morning-after - estrogen and progestin
contraceptive pills and a progestin-only
formulation (levonorgestrel). Taken within 72
hours of unprotected intercourse, disrupts
follicular development and maturation of the
endometrium. May or may not interrupt a
pregnancy that has already implanted.
3. Intra-uterine device - fitted up to 5 days after
unprotected sex.
Possible Complications: subsequent spontaneous
abortions, ectopic pregnancies, prematurity and
sterility
Historical Perspective:
Ancient Greece
1. Plato - immediate upon conception
2. Aristotle - delayed hominization -- Albert the
Great, Thomas Aquinas; heart; 3rd month
3. Stoics - upon birth
Romans - pater familius
Philippines - bitter herbs
Reasons for Abortions6:
1 - incest/rape
1 - fetal abnormalities
4 - maternal health problems
50 - didn't want to be single parents/problems with
current relationship
66 - cannot afford a child
75 - child would interfere with their lives
fetal age:
maternal demographics:
25% - 9-10 wks
20-24 y/o - 33.1%
14% - 11-12 wks
25-29 y/o - 22.3%
5% - 13-15 wks
4% - 16-20 wks
never married - 63.3%
2% - >20 wks
married - 18.5%
55M/year worldwide; China
US: 20M since 1973, 1.6M/year
US: Roe vs. Wade
The court declared:
1. In the first three months of pregnancy, the
abortion decision must be left to the woman
and her physician.
2. In the interest of protecting a woman's
health, states may restrict but not prohibit
abortions in the second three months, or
trimester, of pregnancy.
3. In the last three months of pregnancy, states
may regulate -- or even prohibit -- abortions
to protect the life of the fetus, except when
medical judgment determines that an
abortion is necessary to save the life of the
mother.
"Jane Roe" later identified as Norma N. McCorvey
Justice Blackmun retired in 1994..His carefully
crafted opinion failed to identify a specific U.S.
constitutional guarantee to justify the court's
ruling. Instead, he based the decision on the right
to privacy protected by the due process clause of
the Constitution's 14th Amendment. In effect, the
court was *enforcing a right that the Constitution
did not specifically articulate.
Amendment XIV - Citizenship rights. Ratified
7/9/1868.
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
Doe vs. Bolton: defined the mother's health in
the broadest terms to include psychological,
emotional, and familial factors..
II. Ethical Considerations
Inviolability of Life - Double Effect - Cooperation -
Autonomy -
III. Potential Issues
Religion - Philosophy - Law
Judeo-Christian -
Roman Catholic -
Sanctity of Life
Taking a stand
Compassion and understanding
Common humanity - we are all broken and sinful
people
Gen 1:26-27 and God said, let us make man in our
image..
Ex 20:13 do not murder
Psalm 22:9-10 *nurture and presence; Psalm 139*
Jeremiah 1:5
1. God sets apart human life as unique, distinctive
and valuable.
2. He preserves and protects human life as no other
life on earth.
3. That kind of life begins at conception and
continues to develop where God is at work,
shaping the child into the precise kind of person
He desires to be.
When does life begin?
Ensoulment - implantation, looks human, electrical
activity, quickening, viability, birth
Personhood - concious self-awareness, intelligent and
free adult, interest in the future
1. Biological, Genetic or Structural View -
species specific DNA
2. Developmental, Sociological, Psychological
and Interactive View
Moral Status - potential to become persons, a
valuable future
Conflicts of Rights
1. Right to Life vs. Right to Control One's Body -
incest/rape
2. Right to Life vs. Right to Free Choice or
Freedom
a. Right to Life vs. Unwanted Children -
handicap
b. Right to Life vs. Right to Be Loved
c. Right to Life vs. Right to Choose One's
Own Morality
Pro-Choice - Women's Rights
1. A woman has to bear the risk and burden of
pregnancy, delivery and child-care
2. In cases of very young, inexperienced,
retarded and in cases of incest and rape
3. Control over pregnancy and the right to
normal sex life
4. Unwanted children suffer
5. Defective child
6. Women cannot depend on society for help,
insufficient and degrading
7. Forced to obtain abortion form illegal and
dangerous abortionists
8. Using abortion as a back-up to aid population
control
9. Women should not be inhibited in their right of
choice by interference
Pro-Life - Rights of a Child
1. destroying a life to defend her own rights
2. legalization - widespread
3. forced to act contradictory to love and care
4. excludes the father form responsibility
5. care of society for the unmarried, retarded,
incest and raped
6. weakens the family as an institution - easy out
7. low regard for the human person
References:
1. Florentino T. Timbreza: Bioethics and Moral
Decisions, DLSU Press, 1993.*
2. H.P. Dunn: Ethics for Doctors, Nurses and
Patients, St. Paul's, 1997.
3. Walter Glannon: Biomedical Ethics, Oxford
University Press, 2005.
4. John S. Feinberg and Paul D. Feinberg: Ethics for a
Brave New World, Crossway Books, 1993.
5. Benedict M. Ashley and Kevin D. O'Rourke: Ethics
of Health Care, CHA, 1986.*
6. Charles R. Swindoll: Sanctity of Life, Word
Publishing, 1990.
Abortion Act 1967
15 & 16 Eliz. 2, c. 87.
27 October 1967
Long title
An Act to amend and clarify the law relating to
termination of pregnancy by registered medical
practitioners
§ 1 Medical termination of pregnancy
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person
shall not be guilty of an offence under the law
relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated
by a registered medical practitioner if two registered
medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in
good faith--
[(a) that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-
fourth week and that the continuance of the
pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the
pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical
or mental health of the pregnant woman or any
existing children of her family; or
(b) that the termination is necessary to prevent grave
permanent injury to the physical or mental health of
the pregnant woman; or
(c) that the continuance of the pregnancy would
involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman,
greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or
(d) that there is a substantial risk that if the child
were born it would suffer from such physical or
mental abnormalities as to be seriously
handicapped.]
(2) In determining whether the continuance of a
pregnancy would involve such risk of injury to health
as is mentioned in paragraph (a) [or (b)] of
subsection (1) of this section, account may be taken
of the pregnant woman's actual or reasonably
foreseeable environment.
(3) Except as provided by subsection (4) of this
section, any treatment for the termination of
pregnancy must be carried out in a hospital vested in
[the Secretary of State for the purposes of his
functions under the National Health Service Act 1977
or the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 [or
in a hospital vested in a National Health Service
trust] or in a place approved for the purposes of this
section by the Secretary of State.]
[(3A) The power under subsection (3) of this section
to approve a place includes power, in relation to
treatment consisting primarily in the use of such
medicines as may be specified in the approval and
carried out in such manner as may be so specified, to
approve a class of places.]
(4) Subsection (3) of this section, and so much of
subsection (1) as relates to the opinion of two
registered medical practitioners, shall not apply to
the termination of a pregnancy by a registered
medical practitioner in a case where he is of the
opinion, formed in good faith, that the termination is
immediately necessary to save the life or to prevent
grave permanent injury to the physical or mental
health of the pregnant woman.
§ 2 Notification
(1) The Minister of Health in respect of England and
Wales, and the Secretary of State in respect of
Scotland, shall by statutory instrument make
regulations to provide--
(a) for requiring any such opinion as is referred to in
section 1 of this Act to be certified by the
practitioners or practitioner concerned in such form
and at such time as may be prescribed by the
regulations, and for requiring the preservation and
disposal of certificates made for the purposes of the
regulations;
(b) for requiring any registered medical practitioner
who terminates a pregnancy to give notice of the
termination and such other information relating to
the termination as may be so prescribed;
(c) for prohibiting the disclosure, except to such
persons or for such purposes as may be so
prescribed, of notices given or information furnished
pursuant to the regulations.
(2) The information furnished in pursuance of
regulations made by virtue of paragraph (b) of
subsection (1) of this section shall be notified solely
to the [Chief Medical Officer of the [Department of
Health], or of the Welsh Office, or of the Scottish
Home and Health Department].
(3) Any person who wilfully contravenes or wilfully
fails to comply with the requirements of regulations
under subsection (1) of this
section shall be liable on summary conviction to a
fine not exceeding [level 5 on the standard scale].
(4) Any statutory instrument made by virtue of this
section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of
a resolution of either House of Parliament.
§ 3 Application of Act to visiting forces etc
(1) In relation to the termination of a pregnancy in a
case where the following conditions are satisfied, that
is to say--
(a) the treatment for termination of the pregnancy
was carried out in a hospital controlled by the proper
authorities of a body to which this section applies;
and
(b) the pregnant woman had at the time of the
treatment a relevant association with that body; and
(c) the treatment was carried out by a registered
medical practitioner or a person who at the time of
the treatment was a member of that body appointed
as a medical practitioner for that body by the proper
authorities of that body, this Act shall have effect as
if any reference in section 1 to a registered medical
practitioner and to a hospital vested in [the Secretary
of State] included respectively a reference to such a
person as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of this
subsection and to a hospital controlled as aforesaid,
and as if section 2 were omitted.
(2) The bodies to which this section applies are any
force which is a visiting force within the meaning of
any of the provisions of Part I of the Visiting Forces
Act 1952 and any headquarters within the meaning
of the Schedule to the International Headquarters
and Defence Organisations Act 1964; and for the
purposes of this section--
(a) a woman shall be treated as having a relevant
association at any time with a body to which this
section applies if at that time--
(i) in the case of such a force as aforesaid, she had a
relevant association within the meaning of the said
Part I with the force; and
(ii) in the case of such a headquarters as aforesaid,
she was a member of the headquarters or a
dependant within the meaning of the Schedule
aforesaid of such a member; and
(b) any reference to a member of a body to which
this section applies shall be construed--
(i) in the case of such a force as aforesaid, as a
reference to a member of or of a civilian component
of that force within the meaning of the said Part I;
and
(ii) in the case of such a headquarters as aforesaid,
as a reference to a member of that headquarters
within the meaning of the Schedule aforesaid.
§ 4 Conscientious objection to participation in
treatment
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no
person shall be under any duty, whether by contract
or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to
participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to
which he has a conscientious objection:
Provided that in any legal proceedings the burden of
proof of conscientious objection shall rest on the
person claiming to rely on it.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall
affect any duty to participate in treatment which is
necessary to save the life or to prevent grave
permanent injury to the physical or mental health of
a pregnant woman.
(3) . . .
§ 5 Supplementary provisions
[(1) No offence under the Infant Life (Preservation)
Act 1929 shall be committed by a registered medical
practitioner who terminates a pregnancy in
accordance with the provisions of this Act.]
(2) For the purposes of the law relating to abortion,
anything done with intent to procure [a woman's
miscarriage (or, in the case of a woman carrying
more than one foetus, her miscarriage of any foetus)
is unlawfully done unless authorised by section 1 of
this Act and, in the case of a woman carrying more
than one foetus, anything done with intent to procure
her miscarriage of any foetus is authorised by that
section if--
(a) the ground for termination of the pregnancy
specified in subsection (1)(d) of that section applies
in relation to any foetus and the thing is done for the
purpose of procuring the
miscarriage of that foetus, or
(b) any of the other grounds for termination of the
pregnancy specified in that section applies].
§ 6 Interpretation
In this Act, the following expressions have meanings
hereby assigned to them:--
"the law relating to abortion" means sections 58 and
59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, and
any rule of law relating to the procurement of
abortion;
§ 7 Short title, commencement and extent
(1) This Act may be cited as the Abortion Act 1967.
(2) This Act shall come into force on the expiration of
the period of six months beginning with the date on
which it is passed.
(3) This Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.
Abortion Law Homepage Back to State Abortion
Laws
The Abortion Act
Women’s right to choose an abortion is regulated by
The Act Relating to the Termination of Pregnancy of
1975. When the act was introduced, the woman had
to fill out an application, then a committee of doctors
decided if an abortion could be granted or not. In
1978 women themselves were granted the right to
decide whether to terminate their pregnancies or not.
This right is limited in time, and is valid until the end
of the *twelfth week of the pregnancy.
The Abortion Act regulates the rights and duties of
women, doctors, and hospitals in connection with
induced abortions. Most countries in Europe allow
women the right to terminate a pregnancy within the
twelfth week, but legislation varies somewhat.
To have an abortion, the woman must herself fill out
a form at a doctor’s office, whether that be a general
practitioner’s office, or at a hospital. The doctor is
under professional secrecy. If the woman is under 16
years of age, the law states that parents or guardians
should be allowed to make a statement, unless there
are weighty reasons against it. The woman’s opinion
is always consulted.
The doctor consulted by the woman is under
obligation to inform about how the abortion is carried
out, and possible complications. The doctor is also
under obligation to inform about the support
provided by society, should the woman decide not to
have an abortion. The woman is under no obligation
to ask for this information.
When the woman signs the request for abortion, she
also has to confirm that she has received information
about the procedure, and possible complications. The
woman also has to confirm that she has received
information about the support from society available
to her. She does not need to justify her decision. The
doctor shall, as soon as possible, forward the
woman’s request for abortion to the hospital.
The Abortion Act gives the woman the right to
receive information about contraceptives in
connection with the abortion. This is the woman’s
right, but she decides if she wants to receive this
information or not.
The abortion is carried out at a hospital, and the
procedure is free. It is usual to meet at the hospital
twice – first for a pre-examination, then for the
procedure itself. The time between the first visit to
the doctor, the pre-examination, and the procedure
varies. Usually, the woman stays at the hospital for
observation a few hours after the procedure. At the
pre-examination the woman is informed about the
hospital procedures. The Abortion Act gives health
personnel the right not to participate at the abortion
itself, if they do not wish to.
The Abortion Act also regulates what happens if the
woman requests an abortion after the twelfth week of
the pregnancy. The woman may apply to terminate
the pregnancy, either through a doctor, or directly to
the hospital. A committee consisting of two doctors
makes the decision about so-called late abortions.
The committee is obliged to consider the woman’s
reasons. If the application is denied, it is
automatically re-evaluated by a new committee,
called an appeals committee.
According to the law, *abortions between the twelfth
and the eighteenth week of the pregnancy may be
granted under certain circumstances. These include
the mother’s health or her social situation; if the
baby is in great danger of severe medical
complications; or if the woman has become pregnant
while under-age, or after sexual abuse. After the
eighteenth week the reasons for terminating a
pregnancy must be extremely weighty. An abortion
will not be granted if the foetus is presumed to be
viable at the time that the abortion is carried out.
Reference:
Act of 13 June 1975 Relating to the Termination of
Pregnancy, with Amendments of 16 June 1975
Article II of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines
states:
Section 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of
family life and shall protect and strengthen the family
as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall
equally protect the life of the mother and the life of
the unborn from conception. The natural and primary
right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth
for civic efficiency and the development of moral
character shall receive the support of the
Government.
Revised Penal Code: Section Two. — Infanticide and
abortion.
Art. 256. Intentional abortion. — Any person who
shall intentionally cause an abortion shall suffer:
1. The penalty of reclusion temporal, if he shall use
any violence upon the person of the pregnant
woman.
2. The penalty of prision mayor if, without using
violence, he shall act without the consent of the
woman.
3. The penalty of prision correccional in its medium
and maximum periods, if the woman shall have
consented.
Art. 257. Unintentional abortion. — The penalty of
prision correccional in its minimum and medium
period shall be imposed upon any person who shall
cause an abortion by violence, but unintentionally.
Art. 258. Abortion practiced by the woman herself or
by her parents. — The penalty of prision correccional
in its medium and maximum periods shall be
imposed upon a woman who shall practice abortion
upon herself or shall consent that any other person
should do so.
Any woman who shall commit this offense to conceal
her dishonor, shall suffer the penalty of prision
correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
If this crime be committed by the parents of the
pregnant woman or either of them, and they act with
the consent of said woman for the purpose of
concealing her dishonor, the offenders shall suffer
the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and
maximum periods.

Art. 259. Abortion practiced by a physician or midwife

and dispensing of abortives. — The penalties
provided in Article 256 shall be imposed in its
maximum period, respectively, upon any physician or
midwife who, taking advantage of their scientific
knowledge or skill, shall cause an abortion or assist in
causing the same.
Any pharmacist who, without the proper prescription
from a physician, shall dispense any abortive shall
suffer arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000
pesos.