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Ethical Considerations on Methods Used in Abortions

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Abstract

There is a fundamental inconsistency in Western society’s treatment of non-human animals on the one hand, and of human foetuses on the other. While most Western countries allow the butchering of animals and their use in experimentation, this must occur under carefully controlled conditions that are intended to minimize their pain and suffering as much as possible. At the same time, most Western countries permit various abortion methods without similar concerns for the developing fetus. The only criteria for deciding which abortion method is used centre in the stage of the pregnancy, the size of the fetus, the health of the pregnant woman and the physician’s preference. This is out of step with the underlying ethos of animal cruelty legislation, cannot be justified ethically and should be rectified by adjusting abortion methods to the capacity of the fetus to experience nociception and/or pain.

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Notes

  1. For the rest of this paper, the modifier ‘non-human’ will be taken as understood in the context of animals other than human beings.

  2. In Australia, each state has its own legislation. An overview of relevant legislation is available at http://www.daff.gov.au/animal–plant–health.

  3. This usually involves drugs such as Mifepristone, Misoprostol, Methotrexate where the first, also known as RU-486, is the more commonly used.

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    Eike-Henner W. Kluge

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Kluge, EH.W. Ethical Considerations on Methods Used in Abortions. Health Care Anal 23, 1–18 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-012-0232-1

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