Display options
Cite
Chervenak FA, McCullough LB. Does obstetric ethics have any role in the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy?. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1990;163(5):1425-9doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c.
Chervenak, F. A., & McCullough, L. B. (1990). Does obstetric ethics have any role in the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy?. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 163(5), 1425-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c
Chervenak, F A, and McCullough, L B. "Does obstetric ethics have any role in the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy?." American journal of obstetrics and gynecology vol. 163,5 (1990): 1425-9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c
Chervenak FA, McCullough LB. Does obstetric ethics have any role in the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy?. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1990 Nov;163(5):1425-9. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c. PMID: 2240082.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on
Full text links
Elsevier Science

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1990 Nov;163(5):1425-9. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c.

Does obstetric ethics have any role in the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy?.

American journal of obstetrics and gynecology

F A Chervenak, L B McCullough

Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, NY 10021.

PMID: 2240082 DOI: 10.1016/0002-9378(90)90600-c

Abstract

We defend the view that the obstetrician's response to the abortion controversy cannot be based on accounts of the independent moral status of the fetus, because all such accounts are irresolvably disputable. That response, however, can be based on an account of the dependent moral status of the fetus. For such an account the central question is, "When is the fetus a patient?" Viable fetuses are patients. Nonviable third-trimester fetuses are not patients. Previable fetuses are patients solely as a function of the woman's autonomous decision to confer such status. The abortion of a viable fetus is, with few exceptions, never ethically justified, because it is a patient. The abortion of nonviable third-trimester fetuses (i.e., premature termination of pregnancy) is justified when the pregnant women consents to it. Abortion of the previable fetus is justifiable when the pregnant women consents to it. We distinguish between professional and private conscience. We identify the limits of the former and the legitimate role of the latter, especially in the area of religious beliefs. Finally, we address the implications of our view for residency training programs. The most important of these implications is that requiring all residents to perform abortions is ethically unjustifiable.

Keywords: Analytical Approach; Bioethics and Professional Ethics

Similar articles

Show all 44 similar articles

Cited by

MeSH terms

Publication Types

LinkOut - more resources