ABSTRACT
The battle over abortion and gender equality is played out as a drama of values in political fora and in the legal system, but over the last number of decades the mass media have become an increasingly important arena. When the majority of Western states changed their abortion laws in the 1970s, they made their decision on the logical premise that the foetus was a part of the woman's body. Anti-abortion activism claims the opposite, defining the foetus as a human being, they demand that society treat it as a separate being, which, in principle, is independent of the mother. The idea of pregnancy as an unborn baby in the womb was effectively proffered by the introduction of the ultrasound. Since the 1990s, surrogacy has turned into a profitable business. Most conservative Christians share this view and see IVF and surrogacy as attacks against traditional family values.
