Review article
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ANCIENT ABORTION LAWS: COMPARING ANCIENT PERSIA WITH ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
Hassan Yarmohammadi
; Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Arman Zargaran
; Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center and Department of Traditional Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Azadeh Vatanpour
; School of Literature and Humanity Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Ehsan Abedini
; Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Siamak Adhami
Abstract
Since the dawn of medicine, medical rights and ethics have always been one of mankind’s concerns. In any civilisation, attention paid to medical laws and ethics depends on the progress of human values and the advancement of medical science. The history of various civilisations teaches that each had its own views on medical ethics, but most had something in common. Ancient civilisations such as Greece, Rome, or Assyria did not consider the foetus to be alive and therefore to have human rights. In contrast, ancient Persians valued the foetus as a living person equal to others. Accordingly, they brought laws against abortion, even in cases of sexual abuse. Furthermore, abortion was considered to be a murder and punishments were meted out to the mother, father, and the person performing it.
Keywords
Abortion; ancient Persia; human rights; history of medicine
Hrčak ID:
111069
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2013.
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