Simkulet William
Philosophy, Mid Michigan Community College, Harrison, MI 48625, USA.
J Med Ethics. 2017 Aug 9. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2016-104018.
Many people believe human fetuses have the same moral status as adult human persons, that it is wrong to allow harm to befall things with this moral status, and thus voluntary, induced abortion is seriously morally wrong. Recently, many prochoice theorists have argued that this antiabortion stance is inconsistent; approximately 60% of human fetuses die from spontaneous abortion, far more than die from induced abortion, so if antiabortion theorists really believe that human fetuses have significant moral status, they have strong moral obligations to oppose spontaneous abortion. Yet, few antiabortion theorists devote any effort to doing so. Many prochoice theorists argue that to resolve this inconsistency, antiabortion theorists should abandon their opposition to induced abortion. Here, I argue that those who do not abandon their opposition to induced abortion but continue to neglect spontaneous abortion act immorally. Aristotle argues that moral responsibility requires both control and awareness; I argue that once an antiabortion theorist becomes aware of the frequency of spontaneous abortion, they have a strong moral obligation to redirect their efforts towards combating spontaneous abortion; failure to do so is morally monstrous.
许多人认为人类胎儿与成年人类具有相同的道德地位，让具有这种道德地位的事物遭受伤害是错误的，因此自愿引产在道德上是严重错误的。最近，许多支持选择派的理论家认为这种反堕胎立场是前后矛盾的；约60%的人类胎儿死于自然流产，远远多于死于引产的胎儿，所以如果反堕胎理论家真的认为人类胎儿具有重要的道德地位，他们就有强烈的道德义务去反对自然流产。然而，很少有反堕胎理论家为此付出任何努力。许多支持选择派的理论家认为，为了解决这种矛盾，反堕胎理论家应该放弃他们对引产的反对。在此，我认为那些不放弃对引产的反对但继续忽视自然流产的人行为不道德。亚里士多德认为道德责任既需要控制力也需要意识；我认为，一旦反堕胎理论家意识到自然流产的频率，他们就有强烈的道德义务将努力方向转向对抗自然流产；不这样做在道德上是极其恶劣的。
