Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Ethics of fetal reduction: a reply to my critics
  1. Joona Räsänen
  1. Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Joona Räsänen, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; joona.rasanen{at}ifikk.uio.no

Abstract

In the article, Twin pregnancy, fetal reduction and the ‘all or nothing problem’, I argued that there is a moral problem in multifetal pregnancy reduction from a twin to a singleton pregnancy (2-to-1 MFPR). Drawing on Horton’s original version of the ‘all or nothing problem’, I argued that there are two intuitively plausible claims in 2-to-1 MFPR: (1) aborting both fetuses is morally permissible, (2) aborting only one of the twin fetuses is morally wrong. Yet, with the assumption that one should select permissible choice over impermissible choice, the two claims lead to a counter-intuitive conclusion: the woman ought to abort both fetuses rather than only one. It would be odd to promote such a pro-death view. Begović et al discuss my article and offer insightful criticism, claiming, that there is no ‘all or nothing problem’ present in 2-to-1 MFPR. In this short reply, I respond to some of their criticism.

  • abortion - induced
  • ethics
  • reproductive medicine

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Contributors JR is the sole author of this work.

  • Funding UiO Life Science Convergence Project: Epigenetics and bioethics of human embryonic development.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

Linked Articles