Life before birth : the moral and legal status of embryos and fetuses

著者

書誌事項

Life before birth : the moral and legal status of embryos and fetuses

Bonnie Steinbock

Oxford University Press, 1992

  • : hard
  • : pbk

大学図書館所蔵 件 / 全44件

この図書・雑誌をさがす

注記

"First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1996"--T.p. verso of pbk

Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-250) and index

内容説明・目次

巻冊次

: hard ISBN 9780195054941

内容説明

Hardly a day passes without newspaper coverage of some new development regarding prenatal life. The abortion debate continues to rage, but other examples abound: forced Caesareans; prosecutions of women for drug use during pregnancy; fetal protection policies; the use of fetal tissue for transplantation; embryo research; and the disposition of frozen embryos. All of these issues raise the question of the moral status of the unborn: are embryos and fetuses part of the pregnant woman or are they persons? Are they sources of tissue, research tools, or are they pre-born children? Different conceptions of the unborn prevail in different contexts, giving rise to the charge of inconsistency. For example, women have been criminally charged with abusing their fetuses by using drugs during pregnancy, even though abortion--which pro-lifers call the ultimate child abuse--is legal. The legalization of abortion itself was based in part on the unborn's never having been recognized in law as a full legal person. Yet fetuses have been considered as persons for the purposes of insurance coverage, wrongful death suits, and vehicular homicide. This book provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The first chapter elaborates the book's basic idea, that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. This thesis, which is called "the interest view," raises issues of considerable philosophical complexity, but is presented in language non-philosophers will be able to understand. Subsequent chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues, including abortion, the legal status of the fetus outside abortion, maternal-fetal conflict, fetal research, and the use and disposition of extracorporeal embryos resulting from the new reproductive technologies. The philosophical discussion is enlivened by examples and actual cases which immediately catch, and sustain, the reader's interest. Written in a lively style, Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses is a timely and important work that enables us to resolve contradictions in our current thinking about the unborn, and to approach new issues in a clear and rational manner.

目次

  • The interest view
  • Abortion
  • Beyond abortion: The legal status of the foetus
  • Maternal-foetal conflict
  • Foetal research
  • Embryo research and the new reproductive technologies.
巻冊次

: pbk ISBN 9780195108729

内容説明

This book provides a framework for thinking clearly anbd coherently about the unborn. The book's thesis, the "interest view", states that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. The chapters apply the interest view, and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues. These centre on the inconsistency of the status of fetuses. Are they part of the pregnant woman, or are they persons? Women have been criminally charged with abusing their fetuses by using drugs during pregnancy, and yet abortion is legal. Readers will be able to resolve these contradictions in our current thinking about the unborn, and approach new issues in a clear and rational manner.

目次

  • The interest view
  • Abortion
  • Beyond abortion: The legal status of the fetus
  • Maternal-fetal conflict
  • Fetal research
  • Embryo research and the new reproductive technologies.

「Nielsen BookData」 より

詳細情報

ページトップへ