Open AccessPregnancy Centers: A Clear Purpose of Medicine with Coherent Ethics
Author(s) -
Christopher J. Lisanti,
Sandy Christiansen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
linacre quarterly/the linacre quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.148
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 2050-8549
pISSN - 0024-3639
DOI - 10.1177/0024363920920397
Subject(s) - pregnancy , engineering ethics , medicine , philosophy , engineering , biology , genetics
What is the purpose of medicine? This fundamental question is at the heart of the criticisms faced by pregnancy centers (PCs) and accusations that they are unethical. PCs maintain that the purpose of medicine is to treat and prevent disease. Because pregnancy is not a disease, PCs do not advocate for elective abortion or contraceptives. PCs view the function of values (e.g., autonomy) as constraints upon physicians that prevent physical and ethical harms. Their critics either embrace an ill-defined purpose of medicine such as promoting well-being or conflate the value of autonomy with medicine's purpose. This leads to a subjective view of medicine and changes the relationship from physician-patient to vendor-customer. This subjective nature along with its attendant vendor-customer relationship cannot solve for current or future ethical problems such as sex-selective abortion and its fatal discrimination against females.