Abortion has long been an extremely controversial issue within Australia and throughout the world. With a more liberal approach to abortion now evident, and two thirds of countries permitting such practices, it is perhaps surprising that abortion is still illegal within Australia. The abortion debate requires attention to the reasons why abortion remains unlawful, and of when exactly a foetus becomes a human being thus demanding human rights. .
In 1955 the anthropologist George Devereux demonstrated that abortion has been practiced in almost all communities from the earliest times. It is estimated that across the globe 50 million abortions are carried out every year with over a third being illegal. But why, with today's changing society, is abortion still illegal in Australia? There is a stigma surrounding this issue that simply cannot be escaped. Abortion raises fundamentally important - and hotly contested - questions about human rights, about individual and collective dignity, and about the appropriate role of law under circumstances surrounding such a pertinent matter. .
There are many underlying social issues that need to be taken into consideration when contemplating such controversial matters as abortion. The concern at the core of the abortion debate is the point in which a foetus becomes protected by the law. There are no commonly accepted medical or legal terms to define a human being. It is known and accepted that killing another human being is against the law, so why should a baby be any different? When does personhood begin for a child within its mother's womb, and when is a baby viable? This is the problem that desperately needs to be addressed by the Australian government. .
It is questionable as to whether abortion is essentially an issue of law or one of morals and ethics. Historically religious beliefs have coloured the legal opinion on abortion. However, now, many countries are finding it necessary to empathize with the needs of a woman, and her essential right in choosing whether or not she should terminate her baby.