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  • Title: Abortion and the search for public policy.
    Author: McIntyre RL.
    Journal: Trends Health Care Law Ethics; 1993; 8(3):7-16. PubMed ID: 8118140.
    Abstract:
    The social policy towards abortion determined by the Roe vs. Wade decision can be overturned at any time depending upon how the US Supreme Court reacts to challenges to its earlier ruling. Roe vs. Wade was decided by a 7 to 2 vote, and the members of the Supreme Court appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush were chosen to uphold a conservative (anti-abortion) ideology. Although more than half of the present Court was appointed by these presidents, President Clinton now has the opportunity to appoint 2 more Justices. The public policy positions which are currently available to the Supreme Court or to Congress can be ranked on a chart from liberal to conservative. In this article, 7 different positions are described in detail, and the public policy implications of the implementation of each position are described. The first position considered is the extreme conservative position of "no abortion; no exceptions" as defined by author and Roman Catholic theologian Gerald Kelly. The only procedures allowed which would end the life of a fetus would be those to remove an ovary or fallopian tube in the case of an extrauterine pregnancy (permissible under the doctrine of double effect). In the most extreme interpretation of this situation (which Kelly does not seem to hold), those who perform abortions would be prosecuted for murder. The next position considered is the most liberal position, which is espoused by Michael Tooley, and which holds that abortion and early infanticide are both permissible. The third position is that which allows no abortion but has limited exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The appropriate consideration for abortion presented next is that of the late Joseph Fletcher who believed that whatever love requires is the proper response to the situation. Philosopher Dan Callahan espouses the notion that abortion should be performed for compelling reasons only (after effective counseling). The trimester approach to the problem of abortion is that set forth by Justice Harry Blackmun in Roe vs. Wade. This approach gives a woman freedom to decide to have an abortion during the first 2 trimesters of her pregnancy only. This approach has essentially dictated public policy in the US since 1973. The last position considered is that which maintains that a woman's right to equality demands that she have sole control over whether or not to have an abortion.
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