There once was a man named Perry
Of whom we better be wary.
What he did to our rights
Sure heightened our frights.
A presidency sure would be scary.
- Nick Vanocur
There once was a man named Perry
Does the Right to Elective Abortion Include the Right to Ensure the Death of the Fetus? - Stephen G. Gilles Quinnipiac University School of Law January 2, 2015
Abstract:We do not know how gestation of a fetus outside a human being's body will effect the mental health and emotions of said fetus. The effects could be profound on both Woman and Fetus/Child. Only a psychopath thinks human emotion is a thing to be ignored.
Is the right to an elective abortion limited to terminating the woman’s pregnancy, or does it also include the right to ensure the death of the fetus? Important as this question is in principle, in today’s world the conduct that would squarely raise it cannot occur in practice. The right to elective abortion applies only to fetuses that are not viable, which by definition means that they have been determined to have no realistic chance of surviving outside the uterus. Even if abortion providers used fetus-sparing methods rather than the fetus-killing methods they currently prefer, pre-viable fetuses would die within minutes. In the not-so-distant future, however, new artificial-womb technologies may make this question an urgent one by enabling pre-viable aborted fetuses to survive to full term if a fetus-sparing abortion method is used. Moreover, whether a woman has the right to ensure the death of her fetus may already have important implications for state laws that regulate the destruction or indefinite non-gestation of cryopreserved embryos.
The subject, therefore, is well worth exploring, both as a matter of constitutional principle and for its present and possible future legal ramifications. To do so, this Article analyzes hypothetical state legislation enacted in the wake of two technological breakthroughs that may occur in the coming decades: (1) improved surgical techniques that enable fetuses to be removed alive from their mothers’ wombs at any stage of gestation; and (2) artificial wombs in which these fetuses can be gestated to term. The Article assumes that these dual technologies (which I refer to as “AW”) will be safe for women, not prohibitively expensive, and reasonably effective: many pre-viable fetuses would survive fetus-sparing abortions and successfully be gestated to full term in an artificial womb. The Article then supposes that a state enacts legislation prohibiting fetus-killing abortion methods and providing AW at state expense to any woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy.
Whoever is not physically or mentally fit must not pass on his defects to his children. The state must take care that only the fit produce children. Conversely, it must be regarded as reprehensible to withhold healthy children from the State.My question is: what is the State going to do with these 'rescued' children? What are they going to do with the 'unhealthy' children? Never forget Tuam. It was Catholics and the State that did Tuam. Maybe death is superior than sale or donation to the State.
Children at Auschwitz |