In 1945, at the Nuremburg Trials, for the crime of legalizing abortion, we hung Nazis by the neck until they were dead. Legal abortion was numbered among the "crimes against humanity."
Less than thirty years later (1973), we legalized what we had hung Nazis for legalizing. Twenty years after that, the President's wife, Hillary, claimed it was a crime against humanity to keep abortion illegal.
I often use this example in my history classes as a way of illustrating how American policy can flip on a dime.
Page 1
"The prosecution argued that voluntary abortion was punishable because it was a crime against the unborn child. The prosecution proceeded on the theory that Germany had a duty to afford protection of law to unborn children and that the deliberate failure of high-level officials to do so constituted crimes against humanity and genocide by acts of omission. After summarizing evidence of voluntary abortion policies in its judgment, the Greifelt tribunal FOUND TWO DEFENDANTS GUILTY (emphasis added for the reading-impaired) and one not guilty of forcible abortion and seven not guilty simply of abortion. "
From page 325
"A chart included in Document D-884 and sent to the Gau Staff Office Strasburg, dated May 13, 1944, reported 13 pregnancies, 12 abortions, and 4 children in industrial settings and 14 pregnancies, 3 abortions, and 44 children in agricultural settings.345 Document D-884 also included a more detailed and extensive chart that reported statistics from 39 districts. 346 The chart reported 663 births, 314 pregnancies and 42 abortions.347 Those statistics justifY an inference that the abortions, even if not totally free of some element of duress, were for the most part voluntary in practice as well as in the wording of the policy document. "
From page 340-341
The only two provisions of Hague Convention IV (1907) that had direct relevance to the abortion charges were articles 43 and 46.461 Article 43 had particular relevance with regard to the abortion of children in occupied Poland.462 Article 43 required an dccupying power to enforce the laws of an occupied country unless absolutely prevented463 The indictment alleged that when occupying Poland, the Nazis not only refused to enforce Polish abortion laws, but also prohibited the Poles from enforcing them.464 Article 46 protected "[f]amily honour and rights" including "the lives of persons" and provided a basis for the charges of abortion whether committed in Germany, Poland, or elsewhere.465"
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=lusol_fac_pubs
From page 325
"A chart included in Document D-884 and sent to the Gau Staff Office Strasburg, dated May 13, 1944, reported 13 pregnancies, 12 abortions, and 4 children in industrial settings and 14 pregnancies, 3 abortions, and 44 children in agricultural settings.345 Document D-884 also included a more detailed and extensive chart that reported statistics from 39 districts. 346 The chart reported 663 births, 314 pregnancies and 42 abortions.347 Those statistics justifY an inference that the abortions, even if not totally free of some element of duress, were for the most part voluntary in practice as well as in the wording of the policy document. "
From page 340-341
The only two provisions of Hague Convention IV (1907) that had direct relevance to the abortion charges were articles 43 and 46.461 Article 43 had particular relevance with regard to the abortion of children in occupied Poland.462 Article 43 required an dccupying power to enforce the laws of an occupied country unless absolutely prevented463 The indictment alleged that when occupying Poland, the Nazis not only refused to enforce Polish abortion laws, but also prohibited the Poles from enforcing them.464 Article 46 protected "[f]amily honour and rights" including "the lives of persons" and provided a basis for the charges of abortion whether committed in Germany, Poland, or elsewhere.465"
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=lusol_fac_pubs
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