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Third Trimester Abortion for Fetal Abnormality
Author(s) -
Gevers Sjef
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8519.00159
Subject(s) - abortion , abnormality , commission , fetus , pregnancy , medicine , third trimester , obstetrics , therapeutic abortion , second trimester , aborted fetus , government (linguistics) , law , gynecology , psychology , political science , psychiatry , philosophy , linguistics , genetics , biology
Developments in medical technology have increased the possibility of diagnosing severe structural abnormalities in the fetus If these occur, a woman may request termination of her pregnancy. This raises serious ethical and legal questions, in particular if the anomalies are discovered in the third trimester when the fetus is considered viable. Should doctors be allowed to act upon a request for abortion in such a situation, and, if so, which safeguards should be in place? These questions are discussed with special reference to the Netherlands where a commission established by the government recently published a report on this matter.