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The practice of abortion, the medical removal of a fetus, has been known since at least ancient times. Various methods have been used to perform an abortion, including the administration of abortifacient herbs, the use of sharpened implements, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. Abortion laws and their enforcement have fluctuated through various eras. In many western countries during the 20th century various women's rights groups, doctors, and social reformers were successful in having abortion bans repealed. While abortion remains legal in most of the West, this legality is regularly challenged by anti-abortion groups. ==Premodern era== The written evidence of abortion reflects the interests of class and caste. The Code of Hammurabi, of ca. 1760 BC, specified fines for causing a miscarriage through assault, with the amount varying according to the woman's social rank.〔Krason, Stephen, and Hollberg, Willian. "The Law and History of Abortion: the Supreme Court Refuted" (1984). ''American Government Course Manual.'' Seton Home Study School, 2000. p.104〕〔(The Code of Hammurabi ), Sec. 209–212〕 The Vedic and ''smrti'' laws of India reflected a concern with preserving the male seed of the three upper castes; and the religious courts imposed various penances for the woman or excommunication for a priest who provided an abortion.〔ABORTION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EASTERN RELIGIONS: HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM Constantin-Iulian Damian, Romanian Journal of Bioethics, Vol. 8, No. 1, January – March 2010 ()〕 The only evidence of the death penalty being mandated for abortion in the ancient laws is found in Assyrian Law, in the Code of Assura, c. 1075 BC;〔() Ancient History Sourcebook: The Code of the Assura, c. 1075 BC〕 and this is only imposed on a woman who procures an abortion against her husband's wishes. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus in 1550 BC. Many of the methods employed in early and primitive cultures were non-surgical. Physical activities like strenuous labor, climbing, paddling, weightlifting, or diving were a common technique. Others included the use of irritant leaves, fasting, bloodletting, pouring hot water onto the abdomen, and lying on a heated coconut shell. In primitive cultures, techniques developed through observation, adaptation of obstetrical methods, and transculturation. Physical means of inducing abortion, including battery, exercise, and tightening the girdle were still often used as late as the Early Modern Period among English women. Archaeological discoveries indicate early surgical attempts at the extraction of a fetus; however, such methods are not believed to have been common, given the infrequency with which they are mentioned in ancient medical texts. An 8th-century Sanskrit text instructs women wishing to induce an abortion to sit over a pot of steam or stewed onions.〔 The technique of massage abortion, involving the application of pressure to the pregnant abdomen, has been practiced in Southeast Asia for centuries. One of the bas reliefs decorating the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, dated , depicts a demon performing such an abortion upon a woman who has been sent to the underworld.〔 Japanese documents show records of induced abortion from as early as the 12th century. It became much more prevalent during the Edo period, especially among the peasant class, who were hit hardest by the recurrent famines and high taxation of the age. Statues of the Boddhisattva Jizo, erected in memory of an abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, or young childhood death, began appearing at least as early as 1710 at a temple in Yokohama (see religion and abortion). Māori, who lived in New Zealand before and at the time of colonisation, terminated pregnancies via miscarriage-inducing drugs, ceremonial methods, and girding of the abdomen with a restrictive belt. Another source claims that the Māori people did not practice abortion, for fear of Makutu, but did attempt abortion through the artificial induction of premature labor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of abortion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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