Biomedical ethics - Essay Example

In the U.S. 36 states ban late term abortions, however Alaska has no such ban. Where do we draw the line, or do we? In the early 1960's there was a sleeping tranquilizer/morning sickness agent given to women containing thalidomide; a drug with harmful teratogenic effects producing serious birth defects during the early gestational development period. Thousands of babies were born without limbs, as well as other birth defects. Once research revealed the disaster, the U.S. immediately removed it from the market; however the damage was already done.

One such mother, Mrs. Sherri Finkbine, had been abroad with her husband been given the drug. When she discovered the potential for birth defects, she decided to abort her five month fetus. In Arizona, it required three doctors to state that an abortion was necessary. She had the medical opinion; however because of the explosion of thalidomide cases, she was required to go to court to get legal permission to abort; permission denied, requiring her to go to Europe to have the procedure done. Upon her return, she faced social castigation, losing her job.

There were also serious implications for her husband, a professor. Many magazines gave graphic coverage of the story, including Life, The New York Times, The Saturday Evening Post, and numerous others. Thus began the abortion on demand dilemma that has been discussed and theorized for the last fifty years. According to the Free Dictionary Online, abortion is defined as the "expulsion from the uterus of the products of conception before the fetus is viable." Spontaneous abortion is when the pregnancy terminates itself naturally.

Therapeutic abortion is when the abortion is medically induced out of concern for the health of the mother or fetus, a form of artificial abortion, not occurring naturally. Partial birth abortion is when labor is induced and the infant is delivered except for the head, which is then opened at the base of the skull and a suction catheter removes the brain, killing the infant. The legal definition of abortion was determined in the famous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision on January 22, 1973(410 U.S. 113), as the termination of pregnancy, by any means, before the fetus is able to sustain life independently from the womb.

This famous court case set a precedence for abortion in the U.S. by prohibiting any state from preventing a woman to choose whether or not to terminate her pregnancy in the first trimester, making it a question of medical necessity to prevent abortion in the second trimester, and, requiring the health of the mother to be preserved above the life of the fetus in the third trimester. The main stipulation was that it should be done by a licensed physician, in order to protect the life of the woman.

On the same day, the Supreme Court ruled on another case, Doe vs. Bolton (410 U.S. 179), that supported a woman's right to have an abortion by limiting the ways in which she is counseled so as to influence her decision. Some states have required teenage girls to have parental permission to submit to the procedure; such a signature is required for any medical procedure on a minor. According to Warren, a human being isn't a person until it is a part of the moral