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From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Prohibition and Abortion Laws
Message-ID: <2297@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Aug-84 14:44:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2297
Posted: Tue Aug 14 14:44:35 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Aug-84 03:48:14 EDT
Organization: Dartmouth College
Lines: 57

Forgive me if I'm rehashing old arguments; I never read articles
more than 100 lines long. 
 
Here's my syllogism:
 
    Thesis : Unenforceable or unenforced laws are bad for Society
             as a whole. Example: Prohibition in the U.S.
 
    Thesis : Any law which made abortion illegal would be unenforceable..
             Example: My own experience, historical records.
 
    Conclusion: Any law which made abortion illegal would be
             bad for Society as a whole.
 
Brief defense of Thesis 1:  The Constitutional Amendment against
the consumption of alcohol (otherwise known as the Volstead Act)
was passed in the spirit of high-minded altruism.  'Alcohol is
bad for THEM, so let's take the temptation away.'  Unfortunately
for the altruists, nobody took this thesis personally.  Everybody
broke the law.  This led to several notable results:
   1.  There was a strong niche for organized crime to fill:
       guaranteed income, no public outcry against the 'crime',
       bilked suppliers had no legal recourse, etc.
   2.  Respect for the law in general plummeted.  Everybody knew
       that policemen were corrupt, because everybody's favorite
       speakeasy was exempt from the law.
   3.  Many people were permanently injured by drinking illicit
       alcohol.
 
Brief defense of Thesis 2: I'm 24, well-paid, and strong-minded.
If I chose to have an illegal abortion, there are at least three ways
that I could do so:
  1.  Suborning the family doctor (a reasonably common practice
      among the upper and middle classes)
  2.  Flying to Mexico, Canada, Sweden, et.al. for the procedure
  3.  Paying a psychologist to testify that an abortion was necessary
      for my sanity.
 
If I were only poor and strong-minded, I would probably go to an
illegal back-alley abortionist, putting my own life at severe
risk.  (Note parallels to subpoint (3) above.)
In short, a law forbidding abortions would NOT stop them from 
occurring; it would, at most, make them more dangerous
to the mother's life.
 
I claim that my two theses are adequately proven; if so, the
conclusion must follow.  Leaving aside the question of when
life begins (It's 'when the dog dies and the children leave
home', by the way), can anybody out there disprove either
thesis or the conclusion?  I think that laws against abortion
would not prevent abortion and would cause widespread contempt
for the law.  I'd be interested in proof otherwise.
-- 
Betsy Perry
UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy
CSNET: betsy@dartmouth
ARPA:  betsy%dartmouth@csnet-relay