Introduction

In 1955 the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to legalize abortion on the principle of women’s rights. This was the result of the postwar politics of reproduction. The socialist ideology of women and population, as well as prewar Soviet policy on family and marriage, provided important background. In the prewar period Soviet marriage had already become unstable, but it disintegrated further during World War II. Mobilization, evacuation, and warfare and genocide all played their role. This was the context in which policymakers introduced the extreme pronatalist policy that encouraged out-of-wedlock births while expecting women to work full time. The postwar history of Soviet reproductive politics and practice went beyond Russian and Soviet borders, spreading distinct socialist reproductive practices.

TODAY’S THREATS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE

In the modern world protecting the right to life encounters various obstacles. Personalistic ethics encouraging attitudes pro vita is also taking the dialogue with contemporary philosophical and political currents, including those that do not accept the integral concept of man, but rather they are in favor of his reductionist vision, which in turn it lead to reduced ability to protect human rights, despite their proclamation as the rights of individuals. Appearing in this position „anthropological error”, it also leads to a reductionist vision of social structures such as family, society, nation or state. Moreover, such a vision of man and the world around him, it also determines the constitutional dimension of the state. Consequently, this leads to the creation and operation of various forms of democracy that instead create conditions for legal protection of the right to life from conception to natural death, legalize abortion and euthanasia. This is a serious contemporary threat to the right to life.

Right to Life in the American Medical System

The article deals with the impact of the so called “culture of death” on medical practice in United States (US). In fact, in America, while the pretence is being kept up on the importance of the Hippocratic oath and the evangelic benevolence of the Good Samaritan, the strategy of the secular humanists is to try to make these irrelevant in the twin interests of social convenience and fiscal security. This campaign has been quietly waged in the media, in the courts, in public schools and universities. According this strategy, the threats to human life are, namely, two: abortion and euthanasia. On the first issue, in US the situation is discouraging because the US Supreme Court rulings Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973, that have made abortion a woman’s choice for any reason in the first and second trimester and available with medical consultation for almost any reason in the third trimester of pregnancy. Regarding the euthanasia, the campaign strategy is following the same pattern as that used to legalize abortion: the Euthanasia Lobby is claiming that millions of people in America are suffering unbearable pain because of terminal illness and so ought to have the right to end their pain with physician- assisted suicide. On the contrary, the author assert that there is no right to destroy any human life or participate in its destruction and there is no good moral reason for abortion or euthanasia, including the physician-assisted suicide. Finally, the author think that it is vital that Catholic activists, allied with Christian church-going brethren, should resist with all the power they can muster to the “culture of death”.

Abortion: Woman's Right and Legal Problem

Howard Moody is pastor of Judson Memorial Church in New York City and a Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. In 1967, Moody brought together a small group of clergymen to help counsel women with “problem pregnancies.” Risking public censure and criminal prosecution, the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion referred thousands of women for safe abortions. In addition, Moody and others formed a coalition to support the passage of a bill to legalize abortion. The New York Legislature passed such a bill in April, 1970, which permits abortions by licensed physicians within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. On July 1, 1970, the New York Clergy Consultation Service, which had served as a model for other organizations in other states, was disbanded and reconstituted as Clergy and Lay Advocates for Hospital Abortion Performance. The new organization is designed to deal with local restrictions on abortions and the growth of high-priced “abortion brokers.” This article is reprinted from the March 8, 1971 issue of Christianity and Crisis, Copyright © 1971 by Christianity and Crisis, Inc. The article is used with permission and is reprinted not only as a commentary on a controversial issue but as a case-study of the problems involved when clergy and churches take on the role of social and cultural change-agents. It's definitely not easy, but apparently it can be done. Dr. Moody wishes to acknowledge the assistance of his associate, Arlene Carmen.