Legal Development of Abortion This essay traces the development of abortion law in English and American society up to the time of Roe v. Wade in 1973. Beginning with biblical quotations, the essay researches the early Church Fathers on the issue; the American colonies; developments in the 1800s that caused changes, and so on. Until the time of the Protestant Reformation, English society inherited its traditional anti-abortion law from 1500-year-old Church practice; such belief began even before Christianity as part of the Jewish belief of the Old Testament. The Old Testament tells us: «Death is not the work of God, he does not rejoice in the extinction of the living» (Wis 1,13). What is wanted is life, and in the visible universe everything was made for man, who is the image of God and the crown of the world (Gen 1.26-28). In the Christian tradition, the early Church Fathers taught in the Didache, perhaps the first Christian catechism of 70-90 AD, the following in chapter 2, verses 1-2: "The second commandment of teaching: You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery You shall not commit fornication. You shall not procure an abortion, nor destroy a newborn child. (Jurgens vol.1,p.2) The colonies inherited the English Common Law and they operated largely under that law well into the 19th century. English Common Law prohibited abortion before acceleration was a misdemeanor. Abortion after acceleration (feeling life) was a crime bifid punishment, inherited from previous ecclesiastical law, stemmed from previous "knowledge" regarding human reproduction voted against abortion. It seemed obvious that most people did not want abortion 1973 the US Supreme Court ruled that abortion was imposed from above. (Roe)WORKS CITED:Dellapenna,J. The History of Abortion: Technology, Morality, and Law, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, 1979 Quay, Justably Abortion-Medical and Legal Foundations, Georgetown Univ., Law Review, 1960-1961Jurgens, William A. The Faith of the Early Fathers. Np: Liturgical Press, 1998. Roe vs. Wade, Supreme Court of the United States410 US 113, 1973 Doe vs. Bolton, Supreme Court of the United States 410 US 179, 1973 Washington Post, April 27, 1981 Women and Abortion, Prospects of Criminal Charges Monograph, American Center for Bioethics, 422 C St., NE, Washington, DC 20002, Spring 1983