Barksdale

The People seek to prosecute a licensed physician for a violation of Penal Code section 274 (abortion). (Amended Stats. 1967, ch. 327, § 3.) At issue is the constitutionality of the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 25950-25954.) [1]

California has traditionally authorized abortions in limited circumstances. Under the terms of the 1967 enactment abortions became more readily available where supported by administrative determinations of the existence of particular circumstances. We are thus confronted not with the question whether the state should or must allow abortions but, rather, whether the current legislation satisfies various constitutional tests against which it must be measured. We hold that it does so only in part and dispose of the cause accordingly.

Defendant's demurrer to the complaint charging a violation of Penal Code section 274 was sustained by the magistrate. The People appealed from the following order of dismissal, and the appellate department of the superior court reversed and certified the cause for further appellate proceedings. (Code Civ. Proc., § 911. See also Cal. Rules of Court, rule 63(a).) For purposes of…

The problem of abortion is one which has deeply troubled our nation’s legislators and courts. It commands the most painstaking consideration of the interests of all involved—'the woman who desires an abortion, the physician who' would perform it, the hospital whose facilities would be used, and lastly and of grave importance, the rights of the embryo or fetus itself, viewed by some simply as an appendage of the mother to be removed at will, and by others as a defenseless child with its own rights to protection and life. Inevitably intertwined into the problem are differing, often widely divergent, social, religious, moral and medical attitudes. It is the solemn responsibility of the Legislature to balance and accommodate these various conflicting and competing interests, a task which it accomplished in 1967 with the passage of the Therapeutic Abortion Act. It is the task of the courts to acknowledge and respect this legislative balancing process and to uphold, if at all possible within constitutional limits, the legislative expression of that process.

The period of debate is over, our personal views, probably as divergent as those of the public generally, are set aside. We…

The People seek to prosecute a licensed physician for a violation of Penal Code section 274 (abortion). (Amended Stats. 1967, ch. 327, § 3.) At issue is the constitutionality of the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 25950-25954.) 1

California has traditionally authorized abortions in limited circumstances. Under the terms of the 1967 enactment abortions became more readily available where supported by administrative determinations of the existence of particular circumstances. We are thus confronted not with the question whether the state should or must allow abortions but, rather, whether the current legislation satisfies various constitutional tests against which it must be measured. We hold that it does so only in part and dispose of the cause accordingly.

*325 Defendant’s demurrer to the complaint charging a violation of Penal Code section 274 was sustained by the magistrate. The People appealed from the following order of dismissal, and the appellate department of the superior court reversed and certified the cause for further appellate proceedings. (Code Civ. Proc., § 911. See also Cal. Rules of Court, rule 63(a).) For purposes of our review it…