Moral Obligations to the Not-Yet Born: The Fetus as Patient

doi:10.1016/S0095-5108(18)30768-1

Clinics in Perinatology

Volume 14, Issue 2, June 1987, Pages 329-343

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-5108(18)30768-1 Get rights and content

The fetus destined to be born rather than aborted has become increasingly an object of medical and moral concern. With considerable justification, women view this concern—which they share to a great degree— with suspicion that it will serve as a pretext for denying them social and economic equality with men. This article attempts to show that practical moral judgments about our obligations to not-yet-born children can be made without falling into the abyss of controversy surrounding abortion. By stressing the similarities in fathers' duties to their born children, we can also counter a measure of our historical propensity to view women's moral duties to their not-yet-born children as the overwhelmingly important feature of their moral lives, and resist the temptation to impose coercive public policies.

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