Protection of Potential Life in Illinois: Policy and Law at Odds
30 Pages Posted: 8 Mar 2018 Last revised: 10 Aug 2022
Date Written: 1984
Abstract
Recent advances in scientific and medical understanding of human reproduction make more possible significant state legislative action protective of the human unborn. Contrary to much contemporary thinking, such legal protection not only is consistent with the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, but also is legitimized and perhaps even encouraged by that decision. Further, such legal protection often is supported in a state both by the general public sentiment and by the particular sentiments of those individuals whose families the unborn may one day join. While the concurrent general popular support and particular individual support for protecting potential human life form the basis of a public policy favoring significant legal protection for the unborn in Illinois, adequate legal protection of potential human life is unrealized in this state. After examining the decision in Roe and the objectives underlying state protection of potential human life, the dichotomies between prevailing Illinois public policy and current Illinois law will be examined and suggested changes will be noted.
Keywords: human reproduction, unborn, Illinois, potential life, legal protection
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