Abortion Panel

Three panelists, representing medical, legal and political perspectives, agreed last night that government bans on abortion could not be justified.

Speaking before an audience of 35 at a Harvard-Radcliffe Democratic Club forum, Dr. Joseph Fletcher, professor of Medicine and author of the book "Situation Ethics: The New Morality," said the abortion issue is an ethical determination of when "personhood" begins. "Everyone agrees that life begins at conception--but the issue is when should we assign the rights and status of a person to the fetus," he said.

Fletcher added that because the assignment of personal rights can not be empirically decided, and must be based on personal beliefs, the abortion issue cannot be regulated by the government. "The two opinions must co-exist: the belief of one group cannot be imposed on the other," he said.

Lillian Lin, a member of the Massachusetts National Organization of Women's Task Force on Reproductive Freedom, said the anti-abortion proposal, the Human Life Amendment, could, if passed, cause a "dangerous political polarity in this country."

Lauren Dane, a third-year student at Law School, said, "By passing the Human Life Bill, Congress would be circumventing the Supreme Court's interpretation of the constitution--which is flatly unconstitutional," she said.