PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Prabhpal Singh
TI  - Fetuses, newborns, & parental responsibility
AID  - 10.1136/medethics-2019-105592
DP  - 2020 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 188--193
VI  - 46
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/3/188.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/3/188.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2020 Mar 01; 46
AB  - I defend a relational account of difference in the moral status between fetuses and newborns. The difference in moral status between a fetus and a newborn is that the newborn baby is the proper object of ‘parental responsibility’ whereas the fetus is not. ‘Parental responsibilities’ are a moral dimension of a ‘parent-child relation’, a relation which newborn babies stand in, but fetuses do not. I defend this relational account by analysing the concepts of ‘parent’ and ‘child’, and conclude that the difference in the moral status between fetuses and newborns means one may claim abortion is morally permissible while also claiming infanticide is not morally permissible, without inconsistency between the two claims.