“Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils,” wrote G.K. Chesterton in 1909; “they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.” Abortion has been called a number of things throughout the ages, from excusable in many times to “prenatal infanticide” at least as early as 1901 (and likely before). In reality, though, abortion may be one of those issues where people do differ much, at least now — if some recent behavior and pronouncements are any indication.

Reacting to the expected overturning of the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision, National Geographic wrote May 17 that in Justice Samuel Alito’s (leaked) draft opinion, he “drew on the work of certain historians and concluded the right to abortion was not rooted in the country’s ‘history or tradition.’” 

“But that view of history is the subject of great dispute,” NatGeo, whose passions on this lie where you may expect, continued. “Though interpretations differ, most scholars who have investigated the history of abortion argue that terminating a pregnancy wasn’t always illegal — or even controversial.”

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