Life Before Birth : The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses, Second Edition

Hardly a day passes without newspaper coverage of some new development regarding prenatal life. The abortion debate continues to rage, but other examples abound: forced Caesareans; prosecutions of women for drug use during pregnancy; fetal protection policies; the use of fetal tissue for transplantation; embryo research; and the disposition of frozen embryos. All of these issues raise the question of the moral status of the unborn: are embryos and fetuses part of the pregnant woman or are they persons? Are they sources of tissue, research tools, or are they pre-born children? Different conceptions of the unborn prevail in different contexts, giving rise to the charge of inconsistency. For example, women have been criminally charged with abusing their fetuses by using drugs during pregnancy, even though abortion-which pro-lifers call the ultimate child abuse-is legal. The legalization of abortion itself was based in part on the unborn's never having been recognized in law as a full legal person. Yet fetuses have been considered as persons for the purposes of insurance coverage, wrongful death suits, and vehicular homicide. This book provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The first chapter elaborates the book's basic idea, that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. This thesis, which is called the interest view, raises issues of considerable philosophical complexity, but is presented in language non-philosophers will be able to understand. Subsequent chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues, including abortion, the legal status of the fetus outside abortion, maternal-fetal conflict, fetal research, and the use and disposition of extracorporeal embryos resulting from the new reproductive technologies. The philosophical discussion is enlivened by examples and actual cases which immediately catch, and sustain, the reader's interest. Written in a lively style, Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses is a timely and important work that enables us to resolve contradictions in our current thinking about the unborn, and to approach new issues in a clear and rational manner. Discusses abortion, maternal/fetal conflict, fetal research, embryo research/new reproductive technologies/etc. Contents......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 1. The Interest View......Page 20 I. Consciousness as Necessary and Sufficient for the Possession of Interests......Page 25 Is Consciousness Necessary for Having Interests?......Page 27 Is Consciousness Sufficient for Having Interests?......Page 32 Dead People......Page 35 Permanently Unconscious People......Page 38 Anencephalic Infants......Page 41 III. Future People......Page 48 IV. Potential People: Embryos and Fetuses......Page 51 2. Abortion......Page 54 The Conservative Position......Page 57 The Person View......Page 62 The Logical Problem......Page 70 A Future Like Ours......Page 71 Contraception and the Moral Status of Gametes......Page 73 The Moral Significance of Potential Personhood......Page 79 III. Possible People......Page 82 The Parfit Problem......Page 83 Thomson's Defense of Abortion......Page 87 Roe v. Wade......Page 90 V. The Moral and Legal Significance of Viability......Page 93 Practical Problems with a Sentience Criterion......Page 96 Late Abortions......Page 98 3. Beyond Abortion: The Legal Status of the Fetus......Page 100 Against Third Parties......Page 102 Preconception Torts......Page 103 Against the Mother......Page 106 The Woman's Right of Privacy......Page 107 Automobile Liability......Page 109 Wrongful-Death Actions......Page 111 The Implications for Abortion......Page 113 Prenatal Neglect......Page 115 Homicide......Page 116 IV. Wrongful Life......Page 125 4. Maternal-Fetal Conflict......Page 138 I. Moral Obligations to the Not-Yet-Born......Page 139 Risks to the Fetus......Page 140 Extending Child-Abuse Laws......Page 144 Criminal Penalties for Fetal Abuse......Page 147 Jailing the Pregnant Addict......Page 151 Fetal-Protection Policies in the Workplace......Page 153 Compulsory Medical Treatment of Pregnant Women......Page 157 5. Fetal Research......Page 176 I. Fetal Research in America: History and Politics......Page 178 II. Fetal-Tissue Transplants......Page 182 The Scientific Evidence......Page 183 The Right-to-Life Objections......Page 186 A Feminist Objection......Page 194 Abortion for the Purpose of Procuring Fetal Tissue......Page 195 Benefits from Fetal Research......Page 197 Moral Objections......Page 199 Research on Living Fetuses Ex Utero......Page 203 6. Embryo Research and the New Reproductive Technologies......Page 206 The Biological Status of the Extracorporeal Embryo......Page 208 Discarding Surplus Embryos......Page 209 The Risks of Abnormality......Page 211 II. Embryos in Laboratory Research......Page 214 Detecting Genetic Disease in Embryos......Page 215 Respect for Embryos as a Form of Human Life......Page 219 Creating Embryos for Research......Page 220 III. Dispositional Problems......Page 222 The Rios Case......Page 223 Davis v. Davis......Page 224 Notes......Page 232 B......Page 262 F......Page 263 H......Page 264 P......Page 265 T......Page 266 Z......Page 267 Life Before Birth provides a coherent framework for addressing bioethical issues in which the moral status of embryos and fetuses is relevant. It is based on the'interest view'which ascribes moral standing to beings with interests, and connects the possession of interests with the capacity for conscious awareness or sentience. The theoretical framework is applied to ethical and legal topics, including abortion, prenatal torts, wrongful life, the crime of feticide, substance abuse by pregnant women, compulsory cesareans, assisted reproduction, and stem cell research. Along the way, difficult philosophical problems, such as identity and the non-identity problem are thoroughly explored. The book will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also physicians, lawyers, policy makers, and anyone perplexed by the many difficulties surrounding the unborn.'Bonnie Steinbock's excellent book is... consistent, thoroughgoing, and intelligible.'--Nature'Steinbock's book is valuable for all interested in the ethical/legal issues surrounding abortion, prenatal injury and liability, maternal-fetal conflict, and fetal/embryo research. The author provides an excellent historical overview of these issues, but she also addresses the issues from the stance of a particular theory of moral status, namely, interest theory. This gives coherence to her discussion as well as allowing testing of the viability of interest theory.'--Choice'A focused, lucid, analytically fine-grained discussion of a wide variety of problems... extremely useful as a survey of the current state of the debate.'--Religious Studies Review'Merits serious consideration by physicians. Steinbock's interests-based approach treats all questions as open -- another and most welcome breath of fresh air.'-New England Journal of Medicine'An extremely valuable contribution to the literature. The author carefully identifies the many bioethical issues to which the status of embryos and fetuses is relevant....She thoroughly reviews the extensive medical, bioethical, and legal literature on all of these issues, offering well-developed critiques of many standard positions. She articulates and thoughtfully defends interesting positions on all of theses topics. Anyone with an interest in these issues will learn a great deal from her knowledgeable and judicious treatment of them.'-- The Journal of Clinical Ethics

Hardly a day passes without newspaper coverage of some new development regarding prenatal life. The abortion debate continues to rage, but other examples abound: forced Caesareans; prosecutions of women for drug use during pregnancy; fetal protection policies; the use of fetal tissue for transplantation; embryo research; and the disposition of frozen embryos. All of these issues raise the question of the moral status of the unborn: are embryos and fetuses part of the pregnant woman or are they persons? Are they sources of tissue, research tools, or are they pre-born children? Different conceptions of the unborn prevail in different contexts, giving rise to the charge of inconsistency. For example, women have been criminally charged with abusing their fetuses by using drugs during pregnancy, even though abortion—which pro-lifers call the ultimate child abuse—is legal. The legalization of abortion itself was based in part on the unborn's never having been recognized in law as a full legal person. Yet fetuses have been considered as persons for the purposes of insurance coverage, wrongful death suits, and vehicular homicide. This book provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The first chapter elaborates the book's basic idea, that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. This thesis, which is called "the interest view," raises issues of considerable philosophical complexity, but is presented in language non-philosophers will be able to understand. Subsequent chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues, including abortion, the legal status of the fetus outside abortion, maternal-fetal conflict, fetal research, and the use and disposition of extracorporeal embryos resulting from the new reproductive technologies. The philosophical discussion is enlivened by examples and actual cases which immediately catch, and sustain, the reader's interest. Written in a lively style, Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses is a timely and important work that enables us to resolve contradictions in our current thinking about the unborn, and to approach new issues in a clear and rational manner.

Hardly a day passes without newspaper coverage of some new development regarding prenatal life. The abortion debate continues to rage, but other examples abound: forced Cesareans; prosecutions of women for drug use during pregnancy; fetal protection policies; the use of fetal tissue for transplantation; embryo research; and the disposition of frozen embryos. All of these issues raise the question of the moral status of the unborn: are embryos and fetuses part of the pregnant woman or are they persons? Are they sources of tissue, research tools, or are they preborn children? Different conceptions of the unborn prevail in different contexts, giving rise to the charge of inconsistency. For example, women have been criminally charged with abusing their fetuses by using drugs during pregnancy, even though abortion--which pro-lifers call the ultimate child abuse--is legal. The legalization of abortion itself was based in part on the unborn's never having been recognized in law as a full legal person. Yet fetuses have been considered as persons for the purposes of insurance coverage, wrongful death suits, and vehicular homicide. This book provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The first chapter elaborates the book's basic idea, that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. This thesis, which is called "the interest view," raises issues of considerable philosophical complexity, but is presented in language non-philosophers will be able to understand. Subsequent chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues, including abortion, the legal status of the fetus outside abortion, maternal-fetal conflict, fetal research, and the use and disposition of extracorporeal embryos resulting from the new reproductive technologies. The philosophical discussion is enlivened by examples and actual cases which immediately catch, and sustain, the reader's interest. Written in a lively style, Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal State of Embryos and Fetuses is a timely and important work that enables us to resolve contradictions in our current thinking about the unborn, and to approach new issues in a clear and rational manner Hailed as the'Prince of World Physiology,'Ivan Pavlov continues to influence scientists today. His pioneering research on digestion, the brain, and behavior still provides important insights into the minds of animals--including humans--and is an inspiring example of imaginative experimental technique. Pavlov graduated from the theological seminary in his native Ryazan, Russia, in 1869 but almost immediately switched to medicine and enrolled at St. Petersburg University. He became interested in the physiology of circulation and digestion, which led him to the study of conditional and unconditional reflexes. He conducted thousands of experiments with dogs, developing a way to use a dogs salivary glands as a window through which to observe the workings of its brain. Pavlov lived through the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed it. Lenin himself recognized his genius and provided financial backing for his research; the new Soviet government built a research complex dedicated exclusively to his experiments. Pavlov was honored for his contributions to science with the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1904. Oxford Portraits in Science is an ongoing series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world. This book provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The book's thesis, the "interest view, " states that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. The chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues. An investigation of the moral and medical issues surrounding the foetus, which discusses abortion, the legal status of the foetus, maternal-foetal conflict, foetal research, embryo research and the new reproductive technologies.