School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
UCD School of Philosophy, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
J Med Ethics. 2018 Aug;44(8):513-517. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2017-104728. Epub 2018 May 18.
The Republic of Ireland has some of the most restrictive abortion legislation in the world which grants to the 'unborn' an equal right to life to that of the pregnant woman. This article outlines recent developments in the public discourse on abortion in Ireland and explains the particular cultural and religious context that informs the ethical case for access to abortion services. Our perspective rests on respect for two very familiar moral principles - autonomy and justice - which are at the centre of social and democratic societies around the world. This article explains the context for the deployment of these concepts in order to support the claim that the current legislation and its operationalisation in clinical practice poses serious risks to the health, lives and well-being of pregnant women, tramples on their autonomy rights and requires of them a self-sacrifice that is unreasonable and unjust.
爱尔兰共和国拥有世界上最严格的堕胎立法之一，该立法赋予“未出生者”与孕妇同等的生存权利。本文概述了爱尔兰堕胎问题公共讨论的最新进展，并解释了为获取堕胎服务而提出的伦理案件所依据的特殊文化和宗教背景。我们的观点基于对两个非常熟悉的道德原则——自主和公正——的尊重，这些原则是世界各地社会和民主社会的核心。本文解释了这些概念的应用背景，以支持这样一种说法，即现行立法及其在临床实践中的实施给孕妇的健康、生命和福祉带来了严重风险，践踏了她们的自主权，并要求她们做出不合理和不公正的自我牺牲。
