When does life begin Foetal Development When does

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 of the qualities that Which many of these are necessarywould to give you it value. say. Inisother 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…