Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses

267 Pages·1992·14.16 MB·English

by  Bonnie Steinbock

LIFE
BEFORE
BIRTH
This page intentionally left blank
LIFE
BEFORE
BIRTH
The Moral and Legal
Status of Embryos
and Fetuses
BONNIE STEINBOCK, PH.D.
University at Albany,
State University of New York
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay
Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam
Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid
Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris
Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1992 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1996
Published by Oxford University Press Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinbock, Bonnie.
Life before birth: the moral and legal status of embryos and
fetuses / Bonnie Steinbock
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-505494-6 (cl) ISBN 0-19-510872-8 (pbk)
1. Unborn children (Law). 2. Abortion—Law and legislation.
3. Abortion—Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Fetus—Research—Moral
and ethical aspects. 5. Prenatal care—Moral and ethical aspects,
I. Title.
K642.S74 1992
363.4'6—dc20 91-46293
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For David,
whose love makes all things possible
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
In writing this book, I have benefited from the help of
many people. I thank the people who were kind enough
to send me opinions, briefs, and other background ma-
terial. They include K.J.S. Anand, Sharon Beckman,
Nance Cunningham Butler, Charles Clifford, Ronald
Cranford, Leonard Finz, Lynn Paltrow, and Fenella
Rouse. A number of people made time in their busy
schedules to give me interviews, either in person or on
the telephone. I am especially grateful to Dr. Anand,
Frances Berko, and Herman Risemberg.
I have been influenced by more people than I can
name here. Many of them are given credit in the end-
notes. I extend a general thank-you to all those with
whom I have had conversations at professional meet-
ings, conferences, and at the Hastings Center. I have
profited a great deal from these informal contacts. I am
particularly grateful to Daniel Callahan, Kathleen No-
lan, and all the members of the Hastings Center Mater-
nal-Fetal Relations Project. The lively discussions at our
meetings helped shape Chapter 4.
I am especially indebted to two people. John Arras
has been very generous with his time and knowledge,
and is my sounding board and source of many ideas.
viii Acknowledgments
His perceptiveness and wit are a constant delight. I never met the late Nancy
Rhoden, but I telephoned her regularly, for information, legal expertise,
and philosophical wisdom. Her untimely death has deprived bioethics of a
brilliant scholar, and me of a good friend.
Special thanks are due those who were willing to read the manuscript.
My colleague Robert Meyers read Chapter I several times. Each time the
chapter improved as a result of his written and oral comments. John Arras
read Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 6. As usual, his comments were invaluable.
John Robertson read the entire manuscript at a stage when it was so un-
wieldy that I considered naming it Jaws. His perceptive and trenchant com-
ments helped to shorten and improve the book considerably.
Without the help of my former student, Lowell Fass, the book would
never have seen the light of day. Lowell gave countless hours of his time,
helping me master WordPerfect and printing the manuscript. His patience,
skill, and generosity are greatly appreciated. I also benefited greatly from
the term paper that Lowell wrote on Johnson Controls, Inc. Thanks also to
Sharon Crawmer for taking time away from her own work to print and copy
for me. I owe the book's title to Sidney Callahan, whose intelligence, warmth,
and charm make her a delightful opponent on the topic of abortion. Jeffrey
House of Oxford University Press was the ideal editor: he encouraged, but
never nudzhed.
I am very grateful to Dorilee Stilsing ("Nanny"), whose superb care of
my infant son, Sam, gave me the time and peace of mind to write the book.
Thanks are also due to my older children, Nicholas and Sarah, for their
patience with what often seemed to them a ridiculously long project. ("I
can write a book in a day," Sarah scoffed, while Nick asked incredulously,
"Haven't you finished that book yet?") I owe a special thank-you to my
parents, Elmer and Natalie Steinbock, who came to Albany every summer
from California, and ran errands, baby-sat, and did whatever they could to
allow me to write. The book is dedicated to my husband, David Pratt,
without whose help, support, and encouragement I could not have written
it.
I have saved till last Joel Feinberg, who has been the greatest inspiration
and whose influence is apparent on every page. His work provided the
impetus and theoretical framework for this book. I have learned more from
him than from anyone. For that, and his friendship, I am very grateful.
Contents
Introduction, 3
1. The Interest View, 9
I. Consciousness as Necessary and Sufficient for
the Possession of Interests, 14
Is Consciousness Necessary for Having Interests? /
Is Consciousness Sufficient for Having Interests?
II. The Interests of Nonconscious Individuals, 24
Dead People / Permanently Unconscious People I
Anencephalic Infants
III. Future People, 37
IV. Potential People: Embryos and Fetuses, 40
2. Abortion, 43
I. Criteria for Moral Status, 46
The Conservative Position I The Person View
II. The Argument from Potential, 59
The Logical Problem / A future Like Ours I
Contraception and the Moral Status of Gametes I
The Moral Significance of Potential Personhood
III. Possible People, 71
The Parfit Problem
IV. The Argument from Bodily Self-Determination, 76
Thomson's Defense of Abortion / Roe v. Wade