By Giulia Cavaliere. It is once again November and I am once again—three years since writing this piece—thinking about extra-corporeal gestation, the futuristic prospect of supporting foetuses in an artificial uterine environment. Considering that it cannot be the approaching winter months that sparked a wave of fresh thoughts on this technological possibility, what is? A […]
Category: Pregnancy
Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion
By Simon Cushing In several publications, the philosopher Perry Hendricks has pushed an argument that he calls “the impairment argument,” intended to demonstrate that our horror at causing impairments such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to our children in utero should lead us to regard abortion with at least equal horror, as surely death is […]
Alcohol and pregnancy: meconium screening cannot be justified
By Rachel Arkell and Ellie Lee. Since the 1980s, some have suggested using meconium (an infant’s first faeces) as a source of biomarkers for establishing Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (PAE) – a term that has come into use to describe the identification of alcohol consumption by a pregnant woman. More recently, it has been presented as […]
Multifetal pregnancy reduction – why would you do it?
By Gregory K Pike. Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction (MFPR) was initially a response to the high incidence of multiples in Assisted Reproductive Technology. It has even been called “an integral fail-safe of infertility practice”. Its goal was, and mostly still is, to improve outcomes by terminating some fetuses in a multiple pregnancy, on the grounds that […]
Does money affect the morality of surrogacy?
By J.Y. Lee. Surrogacy is a form of third-party assisted reproduction involving a gestational carrier other than the intended parent(s). There are no globally recognized surrogacy laws, but countries around the world often frame the legality of the surrogacy arrangement in terms of whether it is commercial (paid) or altruistic (unpaid). Of the nations that […]
Public reactions to non-invasive prenatal testing funding in England, France and Germany: The case of Heidi Crowter and Maire Lea-Wilson in England.
By Adeline Perrot and Ruth Horn The introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) into public health systems in recent years has been the subject of controversy in England, France and Germany. In England, for example, the ‘Don’t Screen Us Out’ campaign recently supported the case of Crowter and Lea-Wilson, challenging the UK Secretary of State […]
Why we must resist proposals for routine screening for alcohol in pregnancy
By Rebecca Bennett and Catherine Bowden Since a link was established between alcohol consumption in pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) there have been attempts to reduce women’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy. As a result, many jurisdictions, including the UK have taken what is called ‘abstinence only approach’ as the basis for all policies […]
Getting “done” for concealment of pregnancy: Does a woman have a duty to inform healthcare staff of her pregnancy status?
By Gemma McKenzie. In England a pregnant woman – like any adult with mental capacity – enjoys the rights to autonomy and bodily integrity. As a result, she can only be subjected to a medical intervention with her informed consent. The law does not consider a human fetus as a separate legal entity; therefore, a […]
Where souls refuse to go
By Pauline Thiele In 2010 I was urged to write about our son, Liam, and submit the narrative for publication with the Journal of Medical Ethics. The three following three people, in the said order, were my greatest encouragement and support throughout the submission: Andrew Watkins (neonatologist), John Harris (the then editor-in-chief of JME/bioethicist), and […]
Fine-tuning the impairment argument against abortion
By Bruce Blackshaw and Perry Hendricks Why is it immoral to deliberately give a fetus fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)? In our paper Strengthening the Impairment Argument Against Abortion, we provided one possible answer: it is wrong because it deprives the fetus of a future of value. In other words, the future of an unimpaired fetus […]