Abortion Not In My Criminal Code Essay

Abortion- Not In My Criminal Code Essay, Research Paper

Abortion ! Not in my Criminal Code

Abortion should be kept out of the Criminal Code

Abortion, termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life.

When the expulsion from the womb occurs after the fetus becomes viable (capable of

independent life), usually at the end of six months of pregnancy, it is technically a

premature birth.

The practice of abortion was widespread in ancient times as a method of birth control.

Later it was restricted or forbidden by most world religions, but it was not considered an

offense in secular law until the 19th century. During that century, first the English

Parliament and then American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to protect

women from surgical procedures that were at the time unsafe, commonly stipulating a

threat to the woman’s life as the sole (.therapeutic.) exception to the prohibition.

Occasionally the exception was enlarged to include danger to the mother’s health as well.

Legislative action in the 20th century has been aimed at permitting the termination

of unwanted pregnancies for medical, social, or private reasons. Abortions at the woman’s

request were first allowed by the Soviet Union in 1920, followed by Japan and several

East European nations after World War II. In the late 1960s liberalized abortion

regulations became widespread. The impetus for the change was threefold: (1) infanticide

and the high maternal death rate associated with illegal abortions, (2) a rapidly expanding

world population, (3) the growing feminist movement. By 1980, countries where

abortions were permitted only to save a woman’s life contained about 20 percent of the

world’s population. Countries with moderately restrictive laws.abortions permitted to

protect a woman’s health, to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, to avoid

genetic or congenital defects, or in response to social problems such as unmarried status

or inadequate income.contained some 40 percent of the world’s population. Abortions at

the woman’s request, usually with limits based on physical conditions such as duration of

pregnancy, were allowed in countries with nearly 40 percent of the world’s population.1

Under the Criminal Code. R.S.C. !970, c.C-34, abortion constitutes a criminal

offense. Section 159(2)(c) makes it an offense to offer or have for sale or disposal, to

publish or advertise means, instructions or medicine intended or represented to cause

abortion or miscarriage. Section 221(1) makes the act of causing death to a child who has

not become a human being, in the act of birth, equivalent to murder. Abortion constitutes

an indictable offense under s. 251 of the Code whenever a person uses any means to carry

out the intent to procure a miscarriage of female person, whether she is pregnant or not.

Section 251(2) makes any female attempting to procure a miscarriage by any means guilty

of an indictable offense. Section 251(4) allows permission for a therapeutic abortion to be

obtained from a competent committee, fulfilling strict regulations, with the operation

performed by a qualified physician. However, the common-law defense of necessity is

theoretically available for a surgical operation performed for the patient’s benefit. 2

Until 1988, under the Canadian Criminal Code, an attempt to induce an abortion

by any means was a crime. The maximum penalty was life imprisonment , or two years if

the woman herself was convicted. The law was liberalized in 1969 with an amendment to

the Criminal Code allowing that abortions are legal if performed by a doctor in an

accredited hospital after a committee certified that the continuation of the pregnancy

would likely endanger the mother’s life or heath. In 1989, 70 779 abortions were reported

in Canada, or 18.0 abortions per 100 live births. 3

Henry Morgentaler is a major abortion supporter. Dr. Morgentaler was one of the

first Canadian doctors to perform vasectomies, insert IUDs and provide contraceptive pills

to the unmarried. As president of the Montreal Humanist Fellowship he urged the

Commons Health and Welfare Committee in 1967 to repeal the law against abortion. To

draw attention to the safety and efficacy of clinical abortions, Morgentaler in 1973

publicized the fact that he had successfully carried out over 5000 abortions. When a Jury

found him not guilty of violating article 251 of the Criminal Code the Quebec Court of

Appeal (in Feb 1974), in an unprecedented action, Quashed the jury finding and ordered

Morgentaler imprisoned. Though this ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court a second

jury acquittal led Ron Basford, minister of justice, to have a Criminal Code amendment

passed, taking away the power of appellate judges to strike down acquittals and order

imprisonment’s. After a third jury trial led to yet another acquittal all further charges were

dropped. In Nov 1984 Mor

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