# In the Star Trek universe, do you think abortions are legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089 "2012-11-06T15:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/1 "2012-11-06T15:42:22Z")
Silly hypothetical. Title says it all. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/2 "2012-11-06T15:44:56Z")
[Abortion can be inferred to be legal](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Abortion) in the Trek universe, at least in the Federation. Gene was quite liberal; it would frankly have astonished me to find any evidence at all to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/3 "2012-11-06T15:53:33Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > [Abortion can be inferred to be legal](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Abortion) in the Trek universe, at least in the Federation. > > Gene was quite liberal; it would frankly have astonished me to find any evidence at all to the contrary. Well, dang. That was over before it even started. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/4 "2012-11-06T15:57:29Z")
You’d think contraception would be 100% effective in the future, but we see at least one unintended pregnancy in DS9 (normal pregnancy that is, there probably a dozen pregnancies over the course of the show due to bizarre sci-fi hijinks) I have a vague memory that there’s some sort of “I want to keep the baby” dialogue between Sisko and Yates when she finds out she’s pregnant, which would suggest that not keeping the baby would be a legal alternative. But **Kneads** link doesn’t mention it, so maybe I’m misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/5 "2012-11-06T15:57:35Z")
I wasn’t under the impression that there was a single set of laws for the whole Federation. Otherwise you’d get weird stuff like humans challenging each other to kal-if-fee or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/6 "2012-11-06T16:01:48Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I wasn’t under the impression that there was a single set of laws for the whole Federation. Otherwise you’d get weird stuff like humans challenging each other to kal-if-fee or whatever. No, but there is the [Constitution of the United Federation of Planets](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_Federation_of_Planets), which member planets must ratify, IIRC. This includes twelve guarantees related to individual rights. [Quote=Shakes] Well, dang. That was over before it even started. [/quote] Sorry about that, **Shakes**. I didn’t realize there was a poll coming. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/7 "2012-11-06T16:01:59Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I wasn’t under the impression that there was a single set of laws for the whole Federation. Otherwise you’d get weird stuff like humans challenging each other to kal-if-fee or whatever. Are you talking about the Klingons? Because I don’t think they are a part of the Federation. They’re just allies if memory serves. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/8 "2012-11-06T16:04:07Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Sorry about that, **Shakes**. I didn’t realize there was a poll coming. 🙂 No worries. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/9 "2012-11-06T16:05:06Z")
Abortions would be unnecessary. The real question would be “Would unlimited life suspension be legal?” Pregnancies wouldn’t be aborted because, removing, and life suspension of an embryo could be accomplished quite easily with the technologies presented in that reality. Don’t want the baby now? Just transport the embryo out of the womb and store it either cryogenically or data wise in electronic suspended animation via transporter technology. Then the choice becomes both if and when you wish to _continue_ the pregnancy or possibly donate the embryo for adoption. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/10 "2012-11-06T16:09:54Z")
There are no abortions-there are transporter “accidents”. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/11 "2012-11-06T16:11:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There are no abortions-there are transporter “accidents”. Would this lead to your baby being replaced by its evil, goatee-sporting double? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/12 "2012-11-06T16:15:21Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Are you talking about the Klingons? Because I don’t think they are a part of the Federation. They’re just allies if memory serves. Kal-if-fee is the Vulcan marriage/challenge fight. [Kal-if-fee | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Kal-if-fee) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/13 "2012-11-06T16:17:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There are no abortions-there are transporter “accidents”. Hmm. I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that we have found were our misplaced Horta specimen went… ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/14 "2012-11-06T16:47:52Z")
Legal, easy, and almost entirely unnecessary - unwanted pregnancies would be almost entirely unknown (given Federation technology, completely sterilizing somebody, and then de-sterilizing them successfully when they later decide they want kids would be child’s play, so the only people having kids (In 99.999…% of cases) would be people who wanted them), and few medical issues requiring abortion in the real present would do so with Fed tech, so there would be vanishing few situations where an abortion would be wanted - but there’s zero chance they’re not available in those rare cases. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/15 "2012-11-06T17:07:32Z")
I’d guess they might happen more out on the frontiers, the places where people refuse certain levels of technology. We saw a ton of people in the Federation that didn’t seem to have or want the 23-24th century tech. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/16 "2012-11-07T00:10:54Z")
I’d wager that termination of pregnancy is legal, but that abortion isn’t: With their tech, they could non-invasively remove the fetus and attach it to a mechanical life support/gestation chamber, or possibly implant it into a different host-mother who wanted it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/17 "2012-11-07T05:25:10Z")
Family planning would be on such a level that abortions would be archaic. Their legality would be moot. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/18 "2012-11-07T05:30:55Z")
If I had a transporter, I’m not waiting until I get pregnant…I’ll just transport my uterus into [technobabble] and keep it there until I want it. Bonus - no menstrual pads in spandex uniforms! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/19 "2012-11-07T05:39:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Family planning would be on such a level that abortions would be archaic. Their legality would be moot. Agreed. If they can manipulate genes at the level where two separate species can have kids together (Vulcan and human, for example), they can handle easy, convenient, 100% reliable birth control. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089/20 "2012-11-07T08:58:43Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Legal, easy, and almost entirely unnecessary - unwanted pregnancies would be almost entirely unknown … Nope, men can have [contraception injection](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Contraception_injection), but sometimes they forget to renew them, as did Captain Sisko. That was an unplanned pregnancy, but when it happened it was not unwanted. There would still be cases of unwanted pregnancy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-star-trek-universe-do-you-think-abortions-are-legal/640089.md?page=2)