Abortion in ancient Greece

Arguing against the idea that in Athens a voluntary abortion procured by a woman belonging to an oikos could be prosecuted either with a private specific action (dike ambloseos) or with a public action for hybris, the article provides a new possible overall interpretation of the confused fragments of a lost Lysian speech concerning this topic. While supporting the traditional opinion that an abortion procured by a married woman without the consent of her husband was considered a private matter to be resolved exclusively inside the oikos, it points out some particular circumstances in which abortion could be relevant also in a public dimension, analyzing non-Athenian sources that might provide some possible parallel frameworks.