A model penal law in 1962 reshaped physician and public opinion on abortion restrictions
Evidence
Beginning in the 1950s, support for state restrictions on abortion began to erode. Physicians at medical conferences questioned the restrictions as an infringement on their exercise of medical judgment. Of even greater significance was the publication in 1962 of a model penal law by the American Law Institute (ALI) that permitted abortion when pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, when its continuation threatened the physical or mental health of the mother, or when there was a risk of birth defects. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3083
Categorization
- DEFINE: Explains what the ALI model penal law allowed, a concrete legal-reform milestone driving the liberalization movement.
- XREF: connects to: Restrictive abortion laws did not reduce the number of actual abortions, only legal ones; Classical civilizations legally tolerated abortion as a normal practice; Abortion restrictions enacted in four years exceeded the prior decade — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 634 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Classical civilizations legally tolerated abortion as a normal practice
#expands(0.80) - Evangelical opposition to abortion was initially uncertain and politically constructed
#expands(0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 160 - Abortion restrictions enacted in four years exceeded the prior decade
#qualifies(0.75) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 634 - Christianity’s ensoulment doctrine made abortion a crime against the fetus
#qualifies(0.75) - Medieval penance graded abortion severity by fetal age and by motive
#expands(0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 274 - The Religious Right’s abortion politics predate Roe and were chosen for strategic reasons
#complicates(0.75) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 222 - Roe nullified abortion statutes in forty-six states nationwide
#expands(0.70) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3113