Page 39 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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Virgo is also portrayed as Justice (Justitia) or Dike holding the scales of Libra. Aratus says about Virgo: Beneath both feet of
Bootes mark the Maiden who in her hands bears the gleaming Ear of Corn (Spica). Whether she be daughter of Astraeus, who, men
say, was of old the father of the stars (Greek astor, star), or child of other sire, untroubled be her course! But another tale is current
among men, how of old she dwelt on earth and met men face to face, nor ever disdained in olden time the tribes of men and women,
but mingling with them took her seat, immortal though she was. Her men called Justice (Dike); but she assembling the elders, it
might be in the market-place or in the wide-wayed streets, uttered her voice, ever urging on them judgments kinder to the people.
http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Virgo.html

The above quotation “Her men called Justice; but she assembling the elders…., uttered her voice, ever urging on them judgments
kinder to the people” seems very applicable to the justices and the assembling of the elders. It is followed by the
urging on their judgments “kinder to the people.” It is shadowed by the sign of deception of the serpent, the
Constellation of Serpens that deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. This is so appropriate for this event.

Abortion History

Debate over abortion issues in the United States has been ongoing for years. Various anti-abortion laws had been
on every state statute book since at least 1900. Abortion was prohibited in 30 states and legal under certain
circumstances such as pregnancies resulting from rape or incest in 20 states. The Supreme Court 1973 decision
Roe v. Wade invalidated all of these laws, and set guidelines for the availability of abortion.

We will next take a look at the history of abortion in the United States. At the time of independence of the
United States, the English common law position on abortion applied in most of the then United States and held
that abortion was legal if it occurred before quickening. James Wilson, a framer of the U.S. Constitution,
explained as follows:

“With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life, from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law. In the
contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected not only from immediate
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destruction, but from every degree of actual violence, and, in some cases, from every degree of danger.”

Various anti-abortion statutes began to appear from the 1820s. In 1821, Connecticut passed a law targeting
pharmacist who sold poisons to women for purposes of abortion. New York made post-quickening abortions a
felony and pre-quickening abortions a misdemeanor eight years later. It is sometimes argued that the early
American abortion laws were motivated not by ethical concerns about abortion, but by concern about the safety
of the procedure. However, some legal theorists believe that this theory is inconsistent with the fact that abortion
was punishable regardless of whether any harm befell the pregnant woman and the fact that many of the early
laws punished not only the doctor or abortionist, but also the woman who hired them.
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The criminalization of abortion accelerated during the 1860s, and by 1900 it was largely illegal in every state.
Some states did include provisions allowing for abortion in limited circumstances, generally to protect the
woman's life or to terminate pregnancies arising from rape or incest. Abortions continued to occur and increased
once it became readily available. In the 1930s, licensed physicians performed an estimate 800,000 abortions a
year. Illegal abortions were often unsafe, sometimes resulting in death, as in the documented case of Gerri
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Santoro of Connecticut in 1964.

49 James Wilson, "Of the Natural Rights of Individuals" (1790-1792). Also see William Blackstone, Commentaries (1765):

50 Suzanne M. Alford, Is Self-Abortion a Fundamental Right?, 52 Duke Law Journal 1011.
51 Boyer, Ed. by Paul S. (2006). The Oxford companion to United States history. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. pp. 3.