Further Contradictions

When it comes to the specific question of what legislation should be enacted about abortion, the inconsistencies multiply. For example, the Report states that one of the factors to be taken into account in drawing up legislation on abortion is "existing scientific and biological knowledge" (p.267), some of which has already been referred to in this article. It goes on to add, on p.268, that "The genetic quiqueness and individuality of the unborn child and the control it exerts over its environment are now accepted as scientific facts. It seems to us that it would be somewhat ironic if the protection which the law afforded to the fetus when the genesis of life was only partly understood were now to removed or reduced". Having made this clear statement of principle the Report goes on to contradict it on the opposite page (p.269). There it uses the term "potential life" in regard to the fetus, despite the scientific evidence that the Report has itself brought forward to show that it is actual life, not potential. The specific provisions which it then proposes as a future abortion law offer to the unborn child a protection which is less than that which was accorded to it when the genesis of life was only partly understood.