The Two tragedies argument.

J Med Ethics

Department of Philosophy and Religion, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA.

Published: May 2019

Opposition to induced abortion rests on the belief that fetuses have a moral status comparable to beings like us, and that the loss of such a life is tragic. Antiabortion, or pro-life, theorists argue that (1) it is wrong to induce abortion and (2) it is wrong to allow others to perform induced abortion. However, evidence suggests that spontaneous abortion kills far more fetuses than induced abortion, and critics argue that most pro-life theorists neglect the threat of spontaneous abortion and ought to do more to prevent it. Friberg-Fernros contends such an obligation would be implausibly strong, arguing that induced abortions are far worse than spontaneous abortions because while both involve the tragedy of the death of the fetus, induced abortion involves a second tragedy-one person killing another. I argue this two tragedies argument fails to explain what is morally relevant about induced abortion.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-105145DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

induced abortion
20
tragedies argument
8
abortion
8
pro-life theorists
8
spontaneous abortion
8
induced
6
argument opposition
4
opposition induced
4
abortion rests
4
rests belief
4

Similar Publications

Cervical dilatation, uterine evacuation, and curettage (D&E&C) are common gynecological procedures for abortion, yet they carry risks of complications such as uterine perforation and intra-abdominal organ incarceration. Here, we report a rare case of a breastfeeding patient who had an embedded abdominal greater omentum in the anterior wall of the uterus and into the uterine cavity during D&E&C. We used combined hysteroscopic and laparoscopic treatment for this case and successfully removed the embedded greater omentum.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to describe the severity of abortion-related complications, factors associated with complications, the types of management and the experience of care in Brazil. A cross-sectional study in twenty hospitals (10 in Federal District, 3 in Rondônia and 7 in Maranhão). For 3 months, all women treated for abortion/miscarriage had their data collected.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: Uncontrolled chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs) before, during, and after pregnancy, as well as some CID medications, can increase the risk of impaired fertility in addition to adverse maternal/pregnancy outcomes in women of childbearing age. We report pregnancy outcomes from prospectively reported pregnancies in Japanese women treated with certolizumab pegol (CZP).

Methods: Data from July 2001 to November 2020 on CZP-exposed pregnancies from the CZP Pharmacovigilance safety database were reviewed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recent media attention has been given to an apparent shift away from hormonal methods of contraception. While an increase in fertility awareness-based or 'natural' family planning methods is reported in the grey literature, there are no robust data to determine any such trend in the UK.

Methods: We compared self-reported contraceptive use at conception among patients presenting for abortion at British Pregnancy Advisory Service from January to June 2018 (N=33 495) and January to June 2023 (N=55 055) using chi-square (χ) tests of association.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) is widely involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, but its role in Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (RSA) remains unclear. RSA is a disease that affects roughly 1-2% of partner pairs, but its pathogenesis is still unclear. In recent years, many studies have focused on the role of decidual macrophages in RSA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!