Whether by inherent logic or by historical accident, the abortion debate has become the magnet to which all the other life - and death - debates are attached. (firstthings.com)
The reason for their choice of particular squares into which to crowd must be found in historical accident. (fortune.com)
With this ammunition, Justice Blackmun was able, in his Roe v. Wade decision, to explain away as a meaningless historical accident the medical profession's traditional prohibition against doctors performing abortions: «This it seems to us is a satisfactory explanation of the Hippocratic Oath's apparent rigidity. (firstthings.com)