Abstract
The law's treatment of abortion has undergone a fundamental transformation in the present century which has been marked by a clear trend towards decriminalization of the matter vis-à-vis the abortionist and the woman. The increasing secularization of society, the advance of libertarian thinking in western democracies and the movement towards social equality for women has increasingly led to the view that the abortion decision is one which properly belongs to the private realm of the individual woman. This view has been reinforced by utilitarian arguments founded on acknowledgement of the fact that the criminal prohibition has always been evaded by a resort to illegal procedures with all the danger to the woman's health that this entails.Despite religious and moral objections based on the interest in protecting fetal life, the law has responded to pressures for the legitimization of abortion in varying degrees. In some countries abortion has been totally decriminalized and indeed made available on demand; in others decriminalization has been only partial and abortion allowed only upon a showing of cause defined by statute (abortion on cause) or only at certain stages of pregnancy.On the whole, the law has remained silent as to the status of the father in the abortion decision; in any event he was not subject to any criminal sanction.
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