The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade has played a subtle but critical role in the history of bioethics in America. The finding of a constitutional right to abortion coincided with the first several years of a more or less self-conscious transition from traditional medical ethics, focused on physician decision-making, to “bioethics,” which incorporated the patient’s values and preferences. By the early 1980s informed consent was widely seen as the application of the principle of respect for autonomy.
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