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In reply to the discussion: Abortion has never been rare. Why is that an expectation now? [View all]ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)39. Because history is ignored.
The term abortion is from the Latin abortus (ab- amiss + oriri- appear to be born, arise).b
The Egyptian Kahun Papyrus (1850 B.C.) suggests crocodile feces either for preventing conception or as an abortifacient. In Arabic medicine, elephant feces were frequently recommended. The Ebers Papyrus (1550 B.C.) contains several recipes that cause a woman to stop pregnancy in the first, second, or third period. One recipe for a vaginal suppository includes combining the unripe fruit of Acacia, colocynth, dates, and 6/7 pints of honey and pouring the mixture onto a moistened plant fiber.f
Modern Arabic women still take colocynth as an abortifacient, though one woman who took 120 grains in a powder died 50 hours later.f
Debates over when life begins are ancient and enduring
While there has never been complete agreement about when a fetus becomes a person, the major sentiment in ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman thought was that there could be no living soul in an unformed and/or unquickened body and, hence, the law of homicide could not apply if a fetus was aborted before that time. However, other scholars, such as Basil, the bishop of Caesarea in Asia Minor (c. A.D. 330-379), called feticide murder at any point of development.f
Aristotle suggests that the conceptus had a soul after 40 days from conception if a male and 90 if female (for a similar differentiation, see Leviticus 12:1-5 in the Bible). Later, Aristotle says that the fetus develops little by little and that one cannot make fine judgments.f
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2008/12/14_abortion.html
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Perhaps one of the other dozen or so threads on this question could answer your question
hughee99
Nov 2013
#1
The real question is, why do people feel the need to add rare as a condition of supporting choice?
Gormy Cuss
Nov 2013
#10
"covered by...single payer" is also setting a condition that is superfluous to the core concept.
Gormy Cuss
Nov 2013
#61
The group that supports " & rare" as a platform for discussing unwanted pregnancies aids pro-lifers.
Gormy Cuss
Nov 2013
#65
No, but if you said "I like chocolate and peanut butter" I wouldn't offer you caramel
Gormy Cuss
Nov 2013
#70
If you don't understand what the people on this board mean when they say rare by now
Revanchist
Nov 2013
#3
Is there mandatory wait period or reporting to another person? How far does someone have to
uppityperson
Nov 2013
#26
I never claimed abortions are "becoming more rare" and notice how YOUR chart shows it going back up?
uppityperson
Nov 2013
#33
Here is the page that chart is from and another, same source. Notice all the access restrictions?
uppityperson
Nov 2013
#41
Yup, kill off enough, close enough small clinics and the few that stay open have good security.
uppityperson
Nov 2013
#42
I do not know how the number of abortion providers have fared in the last few decades
NoOneMan
Nov 2013
#48
There are any number of medical procedures that I think should be safe and legal
onenote
Nov 2013
#50
Ok, who sent out the memo to post flamebaiting, divisive OPs about "rare" abortions
kestrel91316
Nov 2013
#58
It's been discussed for years. It was updated in platform in 2008, DU is late to catch up on this.
PeaceNikki
Nov 2013
#63
Because religion is more important to some people than women's bodies and autonomy
TransitJohn
Nov 2013
#77