ON January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of liberalized abortion laws. Other countries have taken a similar course.

Justifying its revolutionary decision, the Supreme Court noted that the unborn are not “recognized in the law as persons in the whole sense.” Thus the Court permits terminating the life of the unborn up to the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy.

However, most abortions are performed earlier, usually before the thirteenth week of pregnancy. And so the Supreme Court overruled all state laws that prohibit or restrict abortions during this thirteen-week period. The Court contended that such abortions, for the woman, are relatively safe.