My Pro-Life stand has always been based on objective reasoning and the principle that one person's rights end where another person's begin. Therefore, a woman's reproductive rights end at the unborn's right to life. "Pro-Choice" Hellenes sometimes state that there is no historical precedent for such a position and therefore it is null. Hellenic ethics are based on virtue and reason, not historical precedence or ancient social norms, even if they are looked to for guidance, but I do need to thank Todd Jackson for providing this bit of historical precedent on a post from facebook...

This is a spinet of the Hippocratic Oath, written by Hippocrates in the late 5th century BC,:

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
...
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_classical.html

Another translation:

I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract:
...
I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.
~ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html

This is a religious oath and can be used to set a precedence for the Hellenic religion being Pro-Life (or at the very least a strong Pro-Life opinion existing) regardless of any other irreligious social norms.

Hellenismos has no dogma or doctrine.

There is no list of shall nots.

While I would agree that reasoning alone would imply a pro-life stance for the Hellene, I don't like the implication that all of us should be pro-life, based on the Hippocratic Oath, when there is an abundance of evidence that is contrary to it.

Quote:

I'm actually very happy that Todd inspired this research. I have always relied on the reasoned application of the virtues to determine if and when abortion was ethical. I can agree that abortion as a necessary medical procedure for the health and welfare of the mother is very different from abortion as an elective procedure based on the desires of the individual. What I'm finding is that more religious opinion lean against abortion, while the Greek legal systems took a very 'legal but limited' approach, even restricting a woman from having an abortion if the father wanted the child.  

If that sort of shame was still prevalent in society we probably wouldn't even have need for this discussion.

Timothy wrote on 12/04/09 at 16:55:03:

I guess sometimes I am too old fashioned for my own good, in this day and age…alas. I am not going to whore my dispositions for popularity mind you.

Quote:

I think the prohibition is with inducing death, not allowing a person to die. I think those are too different issues with different moral implications.

Quote:

I think that is more making a person comfortable as they die. I still think it is a different thing when a person is in the process of dieing, and the pain management incidentally quickens the process.

Timothy wrote on 12/04/09 at 18:14:40:


Not really.  They pump them so full of morphine that it actually kills them.  It's not about being comfortable if the patient goes into a coma from the medication and dies.  It hastens death.  No different from physician assisted suicide in some situations.