Religion & Law

Judging Decisions Not to Abort

By Susan Stabile

I haven't read the book discussed at Vox Nova, to which Rick refers in his post, but have certainly read of, and am troubled by, the expectation on the part of some medical personnel and others that a women who discovers her child has a birth defect will abort.  I thought of this issue earlier today as I read a post by David Cohen on the Feminist Law Professors blog commenting on the recent films in which women don't get abortions (Waitress, Knocked Up and Juno).  What struck me was that, in describing the films, Cohen found it "troubling that the most common medical procedure for women (over 1.2 million per year) gets pushed aside in situations that clearly call for, at the very least, very serious consideration of it."  So it is not just the mothers of disabled children who are somehow deficient if they don't abort their babies.  In addition, women trying to get out of abusive marriages or otherwise suffering economic hardship or women who conceive after a one-night stand simply must give "very serious consideration" to abortion.  And I take from his "at the very least" and from his (unsupported) statement that "many, if not most, women in those situations would opt to have a safe, legal abortion" that Cohen really means not just that such women should seriously consider the option, but that they ought to take that option.  The idea that women are being told that there are circumstance in which they simply must abort is more than a little troubling.

Full post as published by Mirror of Justice on January 22, 2008 (boomark / email).