Medical ethics and the rights of the unborn
A condemnation of abortion is implicit in the principle of "First, do no harm." This idea is also expressed explicitly in various widely accepted statements of medical ethics.I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.
--The Hippocratic Oath
I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception.
--The Oath of Geneva, formulated by the World Medical Association in 1948, updated in 1968. The oath, a modernization of the Hippocratic Oath, is typically taken at medical school graduations.
The life of an individual human being begins with conception. The right to life is the most basic of all rights, and belongs also to the embryo in a mother's womb. Societies have to provide legislation concerning events that invade this right.
The physician shall in all possible ways try to promote the rights of the unborn given in this declaration.
--Finnish Medical Association (a professional organization of which almost all doctors practising in Finland are members), Declaration on the Rights of the unborn, 1996