Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced it has been necessary to separate the ideal of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not put forth under socially impeccable auspices.

— Editorial “A New Ethic for Medicine and Society” California Medicine , September 1970