The current declaration is still a noble attempt to affirm that doctors have duties towards their patients and towards society; they are not just profit-maximising entrepreneurs with an expertise in human physiology.
The most striking change implicitly allows abortion. In 1948, doctors were to declare that “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception.” In other words, the nigh-universal prohibition of abortion was fully backed by the medical profession.
By 2017, this had been watered down to “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life.” In as much as some ethicists maintain that an embryo is life, but not a human life, this is an escape clause for abortion.
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