Ectogestation and the Problem of Abortion
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Ectogestation and the Problem of Abortion Christopher M. Stratman 1 Received: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 10 September 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Ectogestation involves the gestation of a fetus in an ex utero environment. The possibility of this technology raises a significant question for the abortion debate: Does a woman’s right to end her pregnancy entail that she has a right to the death of the fetus when ectogestation is possible? Some have argued that it does not Mathison & Davis (Bioeth 31:313–320, 2017). Others claim that, while a woman alone does not possess an individual right to the death of the fetus, the genetic parents have a collective right to its death Räsänen (Bioeth 31:697–702, 2017). In this paper, I argue that the possibility of ectogestation will radically transform the problem of abortion. The argument that I defend purports to show that, even if it is not a person, there is no right to the death of a fetus that could be safely removed from a human womb and gestated in an artificial womb, because there are competent people who are willing to care for and raise the fetus as it grows into a person. Thus, given the possibility of ectogestation, the moral status of the fetus plays no substantial role in determining whether there is a right to its death. Keywords Ectogenesis . Ectogestation . Abortion . Parental obligation . Genetic privacy .
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1 Introduction Ectogestation involves the gestation of a fetus in an ex utero environment.1 The possibility of this technology raises a significant question for the abortion debate: Does a woman’s right to end her pregnancy entail that she has a right to the death of the fetus when ectogestation is possible? Some have argued that it does not (Mathison and Davis, 2017; Blackshaw and Rodger, 2019; Hendricks, 2018; Kaczor, 2018). Others claim that, while a woman alone does not possess an individual right to the death of the 1
For a general overview of ectogenesis, see Cannold (1995); Takala (2009); Bulletti et al. (2011).
* Christopher M. Stratman [email protected]
1
Department of Philosophy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 315 Louise Pound Hall, P.O. Box 880321, Lincoln, NE 68588-0321, USA
C. M. Stratman
fetus, the genetic parents have a collective right to its death (Räsänen, 2017). Still some have thought that whether a woman has a right to the death of the fetus hinges on whether the fetus is a person with a moral status (Warren, 1984). If so, then perhaps the possibility of ectogestation will not substantially change the abortion debate. In this paper, I argue that the possibility of this technology will radically transform the problem of abortion. The argument that I defend purports to show that, even if it is not a person, there is no right to the death of a fetus that could be safely removed from a human womb and gestated in an artificial womb, because there are competent people who are willing to care for and raise the fetus as it grows into a person. Thus, given the possibility of ectogestation, the moral
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