When does life begin?
Foetal Development
When does life begin?
• Identifying when life begins is crucial to the
abortion debate.
• If we judge the embryo/foetus to be alive then
abortion is tantamount to murder and we are left
with the ethical task of justifying murder
• If the embryo/foetus is not alive, then arguably
there is no moral issue and abortion is
tantamount to cutting out a tumour.
• So on what grounds can we argue that the
embryo/foetus is, or is not, alive?
The main milestones in foetal
development:
• Julie Arliss identifies 5 key points in foetal
development:
– Fertilization
– Heartbeat
– Sentience (the ability to think)
– Viability (the ability to survive independently)
– Birth
Problems?
• Fertilization?
The fertilised zygote can divide and come back together
until day 14. This makes it difficult to tell how many lives
there are. Morning after pill = abortion.
• Heartbeat?
Day 22. Many women will not realise they are pregnant
by this stage and may suffer a miscarriage without their
knowledge. If life has already begun, should a miscarried
embryo be given the same treatment as a deceased
child/adult – funeral rites??
• Sentience?
It is very difficult to measure. Is the potential for sentience (ie
brainwaves – week 6) enough? What about children/adults
who are not sentient – are they not alive??
• Viability?
Usually considered to be 24 weeks but foetuses born earlier
have survived. None will survive without artificial support.
Can a 2 week old baby be described as being able to exist
independently of it’s mother (can a 5 year old? A 17 year
old??!)
• Birth?
The foetus is clearly viable before 40 weeks – is this simply a
change of location? Is this more a psychological response
(now I can see it!) rather than one with any real grounding?
TOO SIMPLISTIC?
• In identifying when life begins, the abortion
debate is expressed in very simple terms:
– If the foetus is alive, abortion = murder
– If the foetus is not alive, abortion is equal to
cutting out a tumour.
– For many though, it is just not this straightforward.
Philosophers like Peter Singer will draw a distinction
between being merely alive and having value.
According to Singer, Johnny Depp is a human
person. He is therefore valuable. Although the
dolphin may not be a human, Singer would argue
that a dolphin possesses
many
of the qualities that
Which of
these
are necessarywould
to give you
it value.
sayInisother words,
Singer would argue that the dolphin could be
a PERSON?
described
as a PERSON.
The start of human life & the status of
the embryo/foetus
• For many, it is clear that life begins early on in
pregnancy – fertlization, heart beginning to beat
or brain waves starting.
• However, merely being alive does not necessarily
mean that the embryo has any value.
• This distinction has lead some philosophers to
explore what it is that makes a human a person (
a being of value) and whether embryos qualify as
persons.
• This is known as the personhood debate and it is
central to our discussion of abortion.
Peter singer - personhood
• Being a person involves having:
–
–
–
–
Consciousness
Self Awareness
Ability to communicate with others
Preferences about continued existence
Therefore, as a foetus does not possess any of the qualities
of personhood, it is not automatically wrong to kill it.
Singer criticises Christianity of being “Speciesist” – giving
automatic value to human beings on the basis of nothing
more than being human.
For Singer, value is not automatic or intrinsic – it comes from
having certain qualities.
Singer says…
• “It is doubtful if a foetus becomes conscious until quite late in pregnancy ...
Even the presence of consciousness would only put a foetus at a level
comparable to a rather simple non-human animal - not that of a dog, let
alone a chimpanzee ...”
On the basis of personhood, a foetus has less value than that of a chimpanzee.
• “while admitting that the actual capacities of a foetus are inferior to those of
a dog, they can say that the foetus has the potential to far surpass a dog”
However, a foetus does have the potential to be far more valueable, as it can
demonstrate more qualities of personhood.
• “those who believe a living human foetus can be killed should say at what
point, and why, in the development from foetus to child killing becomes
wrong. Why, for example, should the life of a premature baby born at 23
weeks’ gestation be more worthy of protection than the life of a foetus at 24
weeks?”
If abortion is considered to be justified, so must infanticide (killing babies).
There is no reason to say abortion is right while infanticide is wrong.
Vardy: Potentiality or actuality?
• Peter Vardy criticises Singer for arguing that a potential
person is as valuable as an actual person.
– Would you be happy for a potential surgeon to operate on
you?
– You are a potential corpse – would you be happy to be
considered as one?
Given this, Singer’s logic implies that as embryos/foetuses
have no intrinsic value, it cannot be automatically wrong to
abort them.
But it also follows that it is not automatically wrong to kill
babies either…