Final Flashcards
What is the pro-life narrative?
innocent life of the fetus under the control of the mother, anything done to the innocent fetus is wrong
what is the pro-choice narrative?
mother’s health & body are first priority, mother has right to defend herself against intrusion of fetus into her life
How does individual autonomy apply to abortion?
mother’s right to make her own decision
How does social paternalism apply to abortion?
laws restricting the mother’s right (society speaking on behalf of the fetus since the fetus can’t speak for itself)
According to Roe v. Wade, is the fetus a person?
NO, it is NOT a person in the sense of the 14th amendment (doesn’t have right to protection of due process)
What does Roe v. Wade consider as a person?
a live born person (fetus is NOT a person)
How did Roe v. Wade rule on abortion?
the trimester formula
What are the rights of the mother during the first trimester?
GREAT concern
What is the right of the fetus during the first trimester?
LITTLE concern
According to Roe v. Wade, is abortion ok in the first trimester?
it is ok, because it is a safety issue for the mother and the fetus does not have brain activity
What occurs at the end of the first trimester?
QUICKENING: when the mother first feels the baby kick (developmental stage)
What are the rights of the mother during the second trimester?
lessening concern
What are the rights of the fetus during the second trimester?
growing concern
What does Roe v. Wade say about second trimester abortion?
you must have a good reason to have an abortion. ONCE VIABILITY IS REACHED, rights of fetus trump rights of mother
What occurs late in the second trimester?
VIABILITY: fetus is able to survive outside the womb with assistance
What is the right of the mother during the third trimester?
LITTLE concern
What is the right of the fetus during the third trimester?
GREAT concern
Can military doctors perform abortions?
NO, because military docs are paid by taxpayer dollars
What did Webster v. Reproductive Health Services say about the trimester formula?
it is UNSOUND
What did Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services decide regarding abortion?
more authority given to individual states
What did Planned Parenthood v. Casey do for abortion?
allows state to regulate abortion, as long as it doesn’t place undue burden on women’s right to abortion
What does PP vs. Casey see as the majority position regarding abortion?
majority position supports the right to abortion WITH LIMITS
What is the definition of abortion?
expulsion or removal of a nonviable fetus, that is a fetus that cannot live outside the uterus at that time
What is a fetus in the biological sense?
from the beginning of the 9th week of pregnancy to the moment of birth
Below 9 weeks, what do we consider what is growing in a woman’s uterus?
EMBRYO
At birth, what does the fetus become?
BABY (live born human being)
What is a spontaneous abortion?
MISCARRIAGE, natural caused event
What is an induced abortion?
when we CHOOSE to have an abortion, with human intentionality
What is therapeutic abortion?
considered ETHICAL
What is non-therapeutic abortion?
UNETHICAL, abortion of convenience when woman doesn’t want the child
What is a eugenic abortion?
When the fetus is aborted because there is a serious malfunction in the genes of the body and the fetus did not develop normally
What does eugenic mean in latin?
“good genes”
What do pro-life people believe in the sense of the person?
GENETIC sense of person: since the fetus has a complete genetic code from the moment of conception, it is therefore a human person
If you believe in the genetic sense of the person, is abortion murder?
YES, because the human should be protected from the time of its creation since it is a person from the moment of conception
What do pro-choice people believe in the sense of the person?
RELATIONAL SENSE of the person: since the fetus doesn’t have ability to reason, communicate or relate, it is NOT a human person
In the relational sense of the person, whose rights are most important?
MOTHERs rights are most important, because the fetus is not yet a person
how do our authors speak of the moral status of the fetus?
from the perspective of the marginalized (protecting the dignity of those who cannot protect themselves)
What is our authors position on the moral status of abortion?
the fetus has a SERIOUS, but not absolute, right to life from the moment of conception, but there will be times when the mother’s right to her body supersedes the fetus right
What are the motives for a therapeutic abortion from the woman’s point of view?
- necessary to save mother’s life
2. necessary on the basis of other medical indications
What are the motives for a eugenic abortion for the fetus?
view that the particular fetus is better off dead
What is the motive for eugenic abortions from a social point of view?
society would be better off without this particular fetus being born
What is the motive for an abortion for juridicial reasons
rape or incest, or other issues regarding woman’s mental health
What is the motive for abortions centered on family goods?
cases where the family would suffer psychologically or economically from the birth of another child or a severely ill child
What is the motive for abortion for the sake of miscellaneous goods from a woman’s point of view?
can include anything-lifestyle, career pattern, desired sex of baby
What did Margaret Little say about the ethics of parenthood?
from gestation through the life of the child, the autonomy of the woman is limited by the choice to create life; one can choose NOT to create life (abstinence, contraception, abortion)
What are the two situations to consider with coercion & abortion?
- cases of parents pressuring daughter to have/not have an abortion
- cases in which government employees deceive or blackmail poor women into having abortions
What are the three types of alternative reproduction?
AI, IVF, surrogacy
What is artificial insemination?
harvest sperm through masturbation, insert it into woman’s vagina through the syringe
What are the two types of artificial insemination
homologous and heterologous
what is homologous AI?
When the sperm originates from the woman’s husband
(homo = same, logos = name); child has genetic material from both husband and wife
What is heterologous AI?
when the sperm originates from an anonymous donor (hetero = other, logos = name)
What are three reasons that a male may need/want to use AI?
- male may not be able to produce sperm
- may have low sperm count
- sperm may have impaired mobility
What might a female want/need to use AI?
if female has very viscous vaginal secretions, it may be difficult for sperm to fertilize the egg normally
What are the three objections to AI from a natural law perspective?
- masturbation
- adultery with heterologous AI
- artificiality introduced into a natural process
Do we see heterologous AI as being adultery?
NO, but some might because a woman is being impregnated by a man who isn’t her husband
What is a major concern with heterologous AI?
INCEST! What if the sperm you receive is from a relative? issues with CONSANGUITY
What does CONSANGUITY mean?
“with same blood”
What is the issue with artificial donor insemination and the unmarried mother?
tension between autonomy of the individual woman and the strong paternalism of society
When a male gives sperm to a bank, what is important that the bank do?
gather genetic information to screen for possible defects
What are rules of sperm donation?
- donor information is not completely concealed to allow genetic heritage of the child to be known
- one donor is used (sperm is not mixed)
- health history of donor is known
What does in-vitro mean literally?
“in glass”, meaning they are mixed in a Petri dish
What is IVF?
gather sperm via masturbation, give the woman hormone therapy to increase egg production, harvest eggs, eggs and sperm put together in petri dish, allowing for fertilization, embryos produced and injected into uterus
how many embryos are usually injected into the uterus?
3-5
What is the success rate of IVF?
very low, about 15%
What are the ethical problems with IVF?
- sex selection
- multiple embryo attachment and selective abortion
- What happens with remaining embryos
How is sex selection an issue with IVF?
At 4 days old, one embryo sex is slightly heavier, therefore we can figure out what the sexes are via centrifuge, allowing parents to pick what sex of embryo they want injected
What is multiple embryo attachment an issue with IVF?
can cause woman to give birth to multiple children…if she only wans one child, she may choose to have a selective abortion to get rid of however many embryos she doesn’t want
What is done with the embryos that are not injected
they are frozen
What happens to frozen embryos?
they can be DISCARDED, which some view as abortion…or they can be used for research