NCJ Number
117172
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1988) Pages: 151-179
Date Published
1988
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe vs. Wade, abortion might have been grouped with other vice crimes such as pornography, prostitution, and homosexuality.
Abstract
Like these crimes, it was linked to illicit sex, regarded as wicked, and difficult to enforce. There are, however, also problems with characterizing abortion as a vice -- it is not pleasurable and it generally is not a repetitive activity. Whether abortion is classified as a vice, consensual, victimless, or invisible crime is extremely important to predicting society's response to it should the Court overrule Roe vs. Wade. Such an overruling would be likely to have the effect of returning abortion to the status of a vice crime, one that will be particularly hard to suppress. While serving as a symbolic victory for pro-life advocates, such an overruling is likely to have little real effect. While fewer abortions might take place, most illegal abortions would probably take place at a cost and danger similar to that of legal abortions currently rather than to those of the pre-Roe period. This will be because abortion will have to be recriminalized on a State-by-State basis, because public opinion about abortion is split, and because of changes in both technology and social attitudes. 124 footnotes.