{"id":4328,"date":"2022-09-06T00:27:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T23:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=4328"},"modified":"2022-09-06T00:27:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T23:27:38","slug":"fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/09\/06\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Cushing<\/p>\n

In several publications, the philosopher Perry Hendricks has pushed an argument that he calls \u201cthe impairment argument,\u201d intended to demonstrate that our horror at causing impairments such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to our children in utero<\/em> should lead us to regard abortion with at least equal horror, as surely death is worse than any non-fatal impairment.\u00a0 This argument, however, rests on a crucial misconception.\u00a0 The subject of the harm of FAS is not the fetus \u2013 which, he stipulates for the sake of argument is not a moral person \u2013 but rather the child that will result if the pregnancy goes to term.\u00a0 This child, of course, cannot be the subject of the harm of abortion, because an abortion would pre-empt its existence.\u00a0 This<\/em> is why pro-choicers and pro-lifers alike avoid drinking while pregnant, and not because the pro-choicers are simply confused about the moral implications of their views.\u00a0 Hendricks insists that surely the impairment happens to the fetus<\/em>, and it is the impairment that everybody views as appalling: \u201cSuppose that we stumbled upon a person who is 8 months pregnant.\u00a0 Suppose further that we witness her polishing off a bottle of liquor.\u00a0 In that moment (so I claim), the pregnant person has acted immorally<\/em> \u2013 her action did not magically become immoral at some later time.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 But even if we assume that the action is immoral, this does not show that the subject of the wrongness of her action is the fetus that exists at the time. If I were to find out that the reason that the woman was drinking was that she had discovered that her child had a fatal condition such that it would not survive more than a few hours after birth, I would, I hope, feel shame at my previously judgmental attitude.\u00a0 In general, part of what I find objectionable about Hendricks\u2019s approach (besides his cavalier analysis of impairment, which does not engage at all with the vast disability studies literature) is that he ignores the rights and interests of the pregnant individual. I think it is telling that he FAS as his example of an impairment (rather than, say, the effects of thalidomide) so that the common judgment of drinking as a vice would exacerbate the perceived immorality of causing FAS through alcohol consumption.\u00a0 But of course, the circumstances of those who find themselves pregnant vary greatly, and often those who cause impairments in their children are in the grips of addiction.\u00a0 Even in failing to show that abortion is wrong Hendricks manages to do a disservice to pregnant individuals not even seeking one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paper title: Why the wrongness of intentionally impairing children in utero does not imply the wrongness of abortion<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Simon Cushing<\/p>\n

Affiliations: University of Michigan-Flint<\/p>\n

Competing interests: None<\/p>\n

Social media accounts of post author(s): Twitter: @Simon_Cushing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Simon Cushing In several publications, the philosopher Perry Hendricks has pushed an argument that he calls \u201cthe impairment argument,\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8059,8073,8075,8079,2022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-assisted-reproductive-technology","category-disability","category-pregnancy","category-reproduction"],"yoast_head":"\nFetal alcohol syndrome and abortion - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/09\/06\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Simon Cushing In several publications, the philosopher Perry Hendricks has pushed an argument that he calls \u201cthe impairment argument,\u201d 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 [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/09\/06\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-05T23:27:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike King\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b107957622bc42b2097d15e5e02a112c\"},\"headline\":\"Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-05T23:27:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":476,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Abortion\",\"Assisted reproductive technology\",\"Disability\",\"Pregnancy\",\"Reproduction\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/06\\\/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-and-abortion\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion - 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