The Legalisation of Abortion
Anozeriorthe artificial ending of pregnancy before the child is capable of survival—is illegal in this- country in all circumstances. It is nevertheless performed occasionally by doctors and very frequently by unqualified abortionists. The latter -have become a serious danger, but are not wholly condemned by pUblic-opinion; and the law'is thus brought into conternpt. Such &situation may he met in two opposite ways : we can make abortion respectable—make it easily obtainable and tolerably safe, as is done in the State " abor- torhuns " of Russia ; or we can redouble our efforts at dis- suasion and repression. 'In -their sin iposium- Miss Stella Browne recommends- the first plan, Captain Ludovici the
second, and Dr. Harry Roberts neither. -
Miss Browne writes as a feminist. She holds that " our bodies are our own " and that Until a child is viable its removal -is as much a woman's right as is the removal of a dangerously-diseased appendix. Babies should" never arrive as disastrous accidents, and for women who do not want them the prescription is obvious safe,' honest, expert termin- ation of pregnancy at their demand. Thus Miss Browne. But Captain Ludovici thinks a woman -has -no more a right to abortion than a passenger in mid-Channel, has a right to demand that the captain shall turn back and put him `ashore where he came from. He sees feminism as an attempt to Make women resemble men, .and he condemns birth control and abortion because they imply the male view of sexual ' life and prevent the deeper fulfilment of cyclical pregnancy, parturition, and lactation. The difficulty, as 'Dr Roberts says, is that wives and daughters are commonly the wage- earners of the family, and in such circumstances pregnancy becomes a disease to be dreaded.
Quoting Russian experience, Miss Browne is inclined to make light of the dangers 'of abortion, while Captain Ludoviei exaggerates them. Both are sincere, but both are adept at picking out information that suits their case, and it is a corresponding relief to turn to Dr. Roberts, who starts with : no particular theory and illustrates the problem from first- hand- knowledge. While concluding that " wholesale legal- isation.of abortion would- represent a very serious backward step in the direction of barbarism," he believes that doctors must do what, they feel right, and that more latitude should be allowed them. In his experience it is not fear of childbirth, but rather the intolerance of parents, employers, and neigh- bours, or lack of money, that leads to the demand for abortion ; and for the future he puts his faith in the endowment of motherhood and a more enlightened social outlook.
T. F. Fox.
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