Reiter R C, Johnson S R, Beller F K
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.
Obstet Gynecol. 1991 Sep;78(3 Pt 1):464-7.
Recent Supreme Court rulings have augmented the potential role of the individual states in abortion regulation. As a result, largely political influences have escalated the abortion debate to the point that there is currently no identifiable center, and consensus seems impossible. The traditional concept of viability has proven an inadequate basis for extension of personal rights and protections to the fetus. Conservative interpretation of a proposed neurologic definition of human life would suggest that human life does not start until approximately 70 days post-conception. Standardization and widespread acceptance of a definition of "brain life" would potentially clarify many medical and legal questions regarding elective abortion and would parallel currently accepted medical and legal definitions of death.
美国最高法院最近的裁决增强了各州在堕胎监管方面的潜在作用。结果，很大程度上的政治影响将堕胎辩论升级到了目前没有可识别的中间立场、似乎也不可能达成共识的地步。传统的可存活概念已被证明不足以作为将个人权利和保护扩展至胎儿的基础。对拟议的人类生命神经学定义的保守解释表明，人类生命在受孕后约70天之前不会开始。“脑生命”定义的标准化和广泛接受可能会澄清许多有关选择性堕胎的医学和法律问题，并且会与目前被接受的医学和法律死亡定义相平行。
