Curriculum · Professionalism and Medical Ethics
The ethical debate on termination of pregnancy
What it is
Abortion is the termination of pregnancy, either spontaneously or intentionally, before the fetus develops sufficiently to survive or before fetal viability. By convention it is usually defined as pregnancy termination prior to 20 weeks' gestation or less than 500-g birthweight.
Therapeutic abortion is the intentional termination of pregnancy for different reasons before 20 weeks gestation.
The lecture divides the ground into three scenarios and takes each on its own: maternal indications, fetal indications, and patient request. Termination of pregnancy became an important concern in the Islamic world, and Muslim scholars have different views regarding the time the spirit is blown into the fetus.
The arguments against
Two lines of argument are set out.
The first turns on innocence: killing people is wrong; killing innocent human beings is wrong; human life begins at conception; therefore the fetus is an innocent human being; therefore killing the fetus is wrong; therefore abortion is always wrong.
The second turns on whether the fetus is a person: a fetus is a person; a fetus has a unique genetic code; a fetus is a unique individual; killing potential people is wrong; it is wrong to destroy potential human life; from conception onwards the fetus is a potential human being; therefore it is wrong to destroy the fetus.