Inceputul vietii

aspect etice

LIVIU OPREA, MD, MA, PHD

Health and technological interventions
that raise ethical issues at the beginning of life

 Maternal-Fetal Conflicts- when both cannot live who comes first?

 Fetal rights: Do they exists?

Maternal/ Fetal conflicts

 What are the obligations of the mother if she carries the fetus to term?

 Does she become subservient to the needs of the fetus?

 What happens to the fetus if the mother (parents) don’t want it?
Reasons for Abortion

A. Risks to mother
 Danger to mother’s mental or physical health/ mother
might die

 Social stigma to mother who is unmarried

 Child is a financial burden

 Will somehow interfere with happiness of mother,

couple, family
Reasons for Abortion

B. Risks to fetus/ infant

 High probability of certain production of a seriously impaired child.

 Pregnancy as the result of rape or incest.

Abortion – ethical issues

Rights in Conflict
Whose rights should prevail?
 The moral status of the fetus
 Is the fetus a person? At what stage in its development does it becomes a person?
 The rights of the pregnant woman
 Does the pregnant woman have the right to decide if she is going to carry the baby to term or not?

Who decides?
Abortion: the moral status of the fetus
 If the fetus is a person, then it has the rights that belong
to persons, including the right to life.

 The concept of personhood  the bridge that connects

the fetus with the right to life.

Personhood

Fetus Rights
Abortion: the moral status of the fetus
Is there a stage at which abortion is ethically acceptable? ( Is
there a stage up to
which experimentation on human embryos is acceptable?)
 Conception- zygote
 Implantation- 14 days
 Organogenesis- 2-8, 9 weeks-embryo
 Quickening- mother feels fetal movement
 Viability- 22-24 weeks
Abortion: the rights of the pregnant
woman
What right does a woman possess that would entitle her
to choose an abortion?
 Right to privacy.
 this is the right specified in Roe v. Wade.
 Right to ownership of one’s own body.
 Right to equal treatment.
 Men can’t get pregnant.
 Right to self-determination.
 Women have the right to decide about their own futures.
Feminist concerns about abortion

 See abortion issue within the context of:

 history of oppression of women

 history of danger and death for women when abortion is illegal

Abortion: an important distinction
 It is important to distinguish two questions:
 Is abortion morally wrong?
 Should abortion be illegal?

Not everything that is immoral is necessarily illegal (eg.

being
unfaithful in one’s marriage is immoral, but we may
not want to see it made illegal)
The technology of assisted
reproduction
 Artificial Insemination Donor (AID)
 In Vitro Fertilization & Embryo Transfer
 Oocyte (Egg) Cryopreservation and Donation
 Surrogate Motherhood
 The right to procreate

Reproductive rights

Reproductive
Individual freedom
obligations
to reproduce
of the health care
system
 Procreative liberties:
ethical issues
1. Interference with the “nature

2. Disrespect for prenatal life

3. Breach of non-maleficence principle

4. Famiily unit breach

5. Effects on women
Pro choice

1. Nearly all abortions:  1st semester  the fetus

cannot exist independent of the mother.

cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot

exist outside her womb
Pro choice

2. Concept of personhood – different than human life

 Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized
eggs used for IVF in vitro fertilization are also
human lives and those not implanted are routinely
thrown away.

Is this murder ????

Pro choice

3. Adoption is not an alternative to abortion,

Statistics show that very few women who give birth

choose to give up their babies - less than 3% of
white unmarried women and less than 2% of black
unmarried women.
Pro choice

4. Abortion is a safe medical procedure.

Medical abortions have less than 0.5% risk of serious

complications and do not affect a woman's health or
future ability to become pregnant or give birth.
Pro choice

5. In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made

pregnant by this violent act would cause further
psychological harm to the victim.

Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware

she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is
ineffective in these situations.
Pro choice

6. Abortion is not used as a form of contraception.

Pregnancy can occur even with responsible
contraceptive use.
Pro choice

7. The ability of a woman to have control of her body

is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive
choice and you step onto a slippery slope.

If the government can force a woman to continue a

pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use
contraception or undergo sterilization?
Pro choice

8. Taxpayer dollars are used to enable poor women to

access the same medical services as rich women, and
abortion is one of these services.

Funding abortion is no different from funding a war in

the Mideast.
Pro choice

9. Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects

for the future.
 They are much more likely to leave of school;
 receive inadequate prenatal care;
 rely on public assistance to raise a child;
 develop health problems;
 or end up divorced.
Pro choice

10. Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates

stress.

 the American Psychological Association found that

stress was greatest prior to an abortion, and that
there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.
 Pro life

1. Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to

murder as it is the act of taking human life.

Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly

accepted idea of the sanctity of human life.
 Pro life

2. No civilized society permits one human to

intentionally harm or take the life of another
human without punishment, and abortion is no
different.
 Pro life

3. Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and

accomplishes the same result.

Eg.: in the USA: 1.5 million American families

wanting to adopt a child
 Pro life

4. An abortion can result in medical complications

later in life:

the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles, and the chance

of a miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory disease
also increases.
 Pro life

5. In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical

care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant.

Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no

crime;
 Pro life

6. Abortion should not be used as another form of

contraception
 Pro life

7. For women who demand complete control of their

body, control should include preventing the risk of
unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of
contraception or, if that is not possible, through
abstinence.
 Pro life

8. Many people who pay taxes are opposed to abortion,

therefore it's morally wrong to use tax euros/dollars
to fund abortion.
 Pro life

9. Those who choose abortions are often minors or

young women with insufficient life experience to
understand fully what they are doing.

Many have lifelong regrets afterwards.

 Pro life

10. Abortion frequently causes intense psychological

pain and stress.