Word: fetus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...like the Hartford one, the argument for taking away custody seems compelling. The woman in question had been a cocaine addict since the age of 11, and continued to take drugs during pregnancy, even shooting up after her water broke. Nonetheless, the State Supreme Court ruled that since the fetus was not legally a person, it had no legal rights. In fact, it wasn't even legally a "child" yet, and the mother was not yet a "parent," so she couldn't be penalized for child abuse...
This semantic sophistry dissatisfied many child-welfare professionals, yet they also saw that the opposite decision might be nearly as bad. Abortion rights advocates, such as Planned Parenthood, reluctantly supported the court's decision because defining the fetus as a person would make abortion murder by definition...
What causes the duality of desire? Most experts believe sexual orientation develops from a mix of nature and nurture, but the recipe remains a mystery. Gender may be fixed prenatally by a chromosome and a wash of hormones, but does a flood of chemicals prime the fetus for a particular sexual preference...
According to Roger Rosenblatt's Life Itself, a 1992 study of American opinion about abortion, the majority of Americans believe both that the fetus is something close to a person and that abortion should nonetheless be permitted. In other words, they think abortion should be allowed but discouraged, and certainly treated as if it were more than just a morally unambiguous operation...
Formerly, the surrogate mother and the couple employing her signed a contract that specified her fee, promised her payment of medical expenses, and required that she give up the baby. In some cases, it also required her to abort an abnormal fetus. Under the new law, payment is allowed only for medical expenses. Any further commercial transaction was illegal resulted in a fine...