Threat of Imminent Death in Pregnancy: A Role for Double-Effect Reasoning
In the Phoenix case, pulmonary hypertension threatened the life of an eleven-week pregnant mother. Removal of the placenta as the organ threatening the mother's life necessarily included extracting the amniotic membranes containing the fetus. The author proposes this argument: the principle of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2011
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| In: |
Theological studies
Year: 2011, Volume: 72, Issue: 4, Pages: 848-878 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In the Phoenix case, pulmonary hypertension threatened the life of an eleven-week pregnant mother. Removal of the placenta as the organ threatening the mother's life necessarily included extracting the amniotic membranes containing the fetus. The author proposes this argument: the principle of double effect clarifies that causing the death of the fetus (destined to die, whatever transpired) while avoiding a direct physical assault on it constitutes an indirect and unintended (albeit foreseen) side effect, thereby justifying the intervention. |
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| ISSN: | 2169-1304 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/004056391107200407 |