Killing fetuses and killing newborns. Issue 5 (1st May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Di Nucci, Ezio
• Is Part Of: Journal of medical ethics. Volume 39:Issue 5(2013)
• Page Start: e19
• Page End: e20
• Publication Date: 2013-05-01
• Subjects: Abortion; Medical ethics -- Periodicals; 174.2
• DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2012-100621
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-6800

Abstract

Abstract : The argument for the moral permissibility of killing newborns is a challenge to liberal positions on abortion because it can be considered a reductio of their defence of abortion. Here I defend the liberal stance on abortion by arguing that the argument for the moral permissibility of killing newborns on ground of the social, psychological and economic burden on the parents recently put forward by Giubilini and Minerva is not valid; this is because they fail to show that newborns cannot be harmed and because there are morally relevant differences between fetuses and newborns.