Rethinking Abortion, Ectogenesis, and Fetal Death

In this article I explore two main questions: (1) does a woman who has an abortion (which I will initially define as the medical termination of pregnancy) also have a right to the death of her fetus? and (2) is ectogenesis (gestation via an artificial uterus) a “solution” to the abortion debate (by providing an alternative location for the fetus if it can be removed alive from the uterus)? How these questions are answered has implications for our understanding of the moral and metaphysical status of the fetus, for prenatal and neonatal care, and for the rights and responsibilities of pregnant women. Over the years in which I have been thinking about them, my answers to these questions have changed. In this article, I hope to provide some insight into the issues by describing my original thoughts, indicating two important criticisms of problems contained in them, and explaining my current views, along with the reasons that motivated my rethinking of them. My aim is not to give a defense of abortion. I will assume that the antiabortion viewpoint has been successfully shown not to be morally defensible. Instead I am interested in what abortion involves with respect to the fate of the fetus, and what rights women hold with respect to the outcome of abortion. I write from a feminist perspective, with a concern for women’s experiences, needs, and well-being, and I am, in part, responding to arguments on these topics from some feminist philosophers.