Croatian scientific society for the history of health culture
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.Od samih početaka medicine, čovječanstvo se bavilo medicinskim pravima i etikom. Svaka je civilizacija posvećivala onoliko pažnje medicinskim zakonima i etici koliko je bila napredna u poštivanju ljudskih vrijednosti i medicinskoj znanosti. Povijest civilizacija uči nas da je svaka imala vlastite poglede, ali su u mnogočemu oni bili zajednički. Antičke civilizacije poput grčke, rimske ili asirske, fetus nisu smatrale živim bićem pa mu stoga nisu davale ni ljudska prava. Za razliku od njih, Perzijanci su fetus smatrali živom osobom s jednakim pravima kao i drugih ljudi. Stoga su zabranjivali abortus, čak i u slučajevima spolnog zlostavljanja. Štoviše, abortus se smatrao umorstvom, a kažnjavali su se i majka i otac i osoba koja bi obavila postupak