Is there a more controversial issue in the World than abortion? It is now legal in most countries in the western hemisphere, but only recently so. It wasn’t legalised in Britain until 1967, when it was one of the many social reforms of the then Labour Home Secretary Roy Jenkins. It was done so on social grounds, as a response to both the growing feminist movement and the demands of a woman’s right to choose, and to end the blight of backstreet abortions which had reached almost epidemic proportions during the Second World War and in the  years immediately following its conclusion. In the United States its legalisation was founded on the Supreme Court Judgement in the case of Roe vs Wade in 1973, which found in favour of a woman’s right to choose. This judgement has been frequently challenged ever since and pro-life groups have in the past achieved Congressional rulings in their favour that have restricted the use of public funds to pay for abortions. Prior to 1967, abortion was only legal in Sweden and Denmark.

Abortion is an emotive issue and it is very easy to argue against abortion when all the emotional verities seem to stand against it. Is it wrong to kill a human being? If so, then it is wrong to destroy a human foetus developing in the mother’s womb, and we have all seen the heart-rending pictures. Yet many of those who oppose abortion also support the death penalty, which is the legalised murder of an adult human being. So, perhaps, I should predicate this argument with the word innocent. It does, however, blur the moral boundaries somewhat.

Conservatives would argue that life creation is a gradual process, a process that begins in the mother’s womb. A liberal may well say in response to this that a child is not a child until it is born. So where do we start?

Viability is the moment at which a fetus could survive outside of the womb. This formed the basis of the Roe vs Wade judgement which stated that the State had the responsibility to protect potential human life but that this life becomes compelling at the point of viability. Prior to this the aborting of the foetus could be legitimate.

Quickening is the point at which the mother first feels the foetus to move. According to Catholic theology this is the moment when the baby receives its soul from God. If the foetus is capable of movement then this is proof that it is alive. Any abortion beyond this point would constitute murder. It would appear that on ethical grounds the liberal argument supporting abortion is a weak one. But Liberals do not argue in favour of legalised abortion on ethical grounds alone.

It doesn’t matter what laws are passed prohibiting abortion they continue to be carried out regardless. Grubby backstreet abortions where the life of the mother is put at risk as well as the aborting of her foetus, and the number of unwanted, abandoned, children increases sequentially. For example, in Rumania abortion was banned under the Ceaucescu regime and the problem of abandoned children and unwanted orphans still haunts the country to this day. There are serious social consequences that need to be taken into account when one argues in favour of banning abortion. Also, should the law have to reflect moral values. There should be areas of an individuals private life in which the law does not interfere, and is there anything more private or personal than pregnancy. Feminists would argue that as the foetus is entirely dependent on its mother for its survival then it has no right to a life beyond her wishes.

The Conservative position regarding abortion relies almost entirely on the acceptance of the unique status of human life. But can a foetus be considered a conscious sentient being? Many of those who propound the Right to Life view also regularly dine on chickens, cows and pigs, all animals at a more advanced stage of awareness than the foetus.

“Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb, my frame was not hidden from thee when I was being made” (psalm 139, verse 13). Most abortions are carried out between the 13th and 18th week of a pregnancy. Christians would argue that by this time the foetus has developed into an individual human being. It has the shape of a baby, it reacts to painful stimulus. It is, therefore, no longer a part of the mother but independent of her. The mother is aware of her child, she feels her child move, it is not concealed to her. Should she make the decision at this point to abort her foetus she is consciously committing murder, regardless of her reasons for doing so. Abortion, even in the case of the pregnancy being the result of rape or endangering the life of the mother is murder. If she is a Christian then the outcome should be left up to God. Others, however, would say that she should be allowed to express her Christian Free Will.

How should doctors respond to abortion? The Hippocratic Oath states that the physician should swear to save and not take human life.

I have set before you the arguments in I hope an impartial way. What do you think?