Do Not Risk Homicide: Abortion After 10 Weeks Gestation

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Moral Philosophy
• Reproductive Rights

Background:

• Widespread ethical disagreement exists regarding abortion and the moral status of a fetus.
• Establishing definitive personhood for a fetus remains a contentious philosophical debate.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the "Do Not Risk Homicide Argument" as a basis for the ethical wrongness of abortion.
• To argue that a substantial chance of personhood is sufficient to establish the wrongness of abortion after 10 weeks gestation.

Main Methods:

• The argument bypasses the stalemate over fetal personhood by focusing on the risk of homicide.
• Evidence from historical abortion data, philosophical theories of personhood, and comparisons to premature newborns is considered.
• Intuitive responses of women to pregnancy and miscarriage are also examined.

Main Results:

• Abortion is considered ethically wrong after 10 weeks gestation due to a substantial and unjustifiable risk of homicide.
• Cumulative evidence suggests a greater than one in five chance that fetuses are persons after 10 weeks gestation.

Conclusions:

• The argument provides a common ground for ethical evaluation of abortion, independent of contentious metaphysical debates.
• Societal measures to protect preborn human beings are strongly suggested.
• Implications for fetal pain relief, social policy, and abortion law are discussed.