Moral obligations to the not-yet born: the fetus as patient

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.