Definition of Abortion

Abortion is one of the most difficult, controversial, and painful subjects in modern society. The principal controversy revolves around the questions of who makes the decision concerning abortion, the individual or the state; under what circumstances it may be done; and who is capable of making the decision. Medical questions such as techniques of abortion are less controversial but are sometimes part of the larger debate.

Abortion is not new in human society; a study by the anthropologist George Devereux (1955) showed that more than 300 contemporary human nonindustrial societies practiced abortion. Women have performed abortions on themselves or experienced abortions at the hands of others for thousands of years (Potts, Diggory, and Peel 1977), and abortions continue to occur today in developing areas under medically primitive conditions. However, modern technology and social change have made abortion a part of modern health care. At the same time, abortion has become a political issue in some societies and a flash point for disagreements about the role of women and individual autonomy in life decisions.



The various social responses to abortion range from those of the individual and her immediate circle of family and friends to the organizational, community, and even national levels. Each culture and society has specific ways of dealing with unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and with abortion. These traditions are changing rapidly in the modern world.