FETAL ABNORMALITY CASE STUDY 2

Fetal Abnormality Case Study

In Christianity, all human beings are created by God to serve his special purpose
(Stensvold, 2015). They possess life which is sacred before God and, therefore, should be treated
with dignity (Bratton, 2018). Christianity also teaches that life begins at conception. A fetus is,
therefore, as human as a fully formed adult human being (Bratton, 2018). They are not tissues
that can be done away with any adult member of the society may wish. Like any other human
being, a fetus has moral and human rights.
The theory that closely reflects the Christian concept of human persons is the theory
based on human properties. According to this theory, all humans have moral status and rights by
virtue of having human life. This human life begins at fertilization. Thus, based on this theory, a
fetus has moral, legal, and human rights just like adult beings by virtue of having life and being a
developing human being (Brown, 2018). This is the same view that Christianity holds.
Based on these two viewpoints – the Christian conception of human persons and the
theory based on human properties – human beings have intrinsic value and dignity. This value
and dignity are solely conferred to them at fertilization and cannot be removed for whatever
reason. They cannot be removed on the basis of race, gender, law, physical state, personal
preference, or level of development. There is simply nothing that can reduce the value of a
human being or lessen their right to be treated with dignity.
In the case study of fetal abnormality there are conflicting views on what should be done
to a fetus who has very little chance of developing arms and very high probability of developing
Downs Syndrome. The dilemma in this situation is to abort or not to abort.

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Favoring abortion is Dr. Wilson. Even though he has explained to Jessica, the pregnant
lady, about all options available for her, he recommends abortion as the right decision both
medically and scientifically. He considers abortion to be the right decision because of the
conditions of the pregnancy and the and the family. Jessica is a hotel worker who works for long
hours to make ends meet. Her husband, Marco, is a construction worker. The family is a clearly
low income one. Having a child with physical and mental disabilities is going to significantly
reduce their income. First, because taking care of such a child is expensive and, secondly,
because caring for the child will compromise their working hours. They may need to spend less
time at work in order to care for the child. Working less time will mean making less money
which may negatively lower the quality of their life and that of their child. Moreover, being
physically disabled and probably suffering from Downs Syndrome, the child may not be able to
take care of itself in its adult life.
It is because of these considerations that the doctor feels that having abortion is the
correct option to take for the couple. The theory that applies to Dr. Wilson’s view that there is
nothing wrong with abortion is the theory based on cognitive properties. This theory holds that a
person has moral status only if they have cognitive capacity or cognitive properties (Shea, 2018).
These properties include memory, perception, ability to reason, capacity for communication, and
self-awareness. Since the fetus has none of these properties, Dr. Wilson may not view its
termination as being in any way immoral because the fetus lacks moral status.
The theory based on moral agency also applies to Dr. Wilson’s proposal. According to
this theory, a person has moral status if they can act as a moral agent (Shea, 2018). What makes a
moral agent is the capacity to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. Since a fetus

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has no such capacity, it does not have moral status which, therefore, means it can be disposed
off.
On the opposite side of Dr. Wilson is Maria, Jessica’s aunt. She wants Jessica to keep the
child for filial and religious reasons. She appeals to her obligation as a mother to a child and to
her religious beliefs. As a Christian she believes that all life is sacred and human beings have no
right to destroy that which God has created in his own image. She views the fetus, which will
develop into a child and then adult human, as serving God’s purpose regardless of its likely
physical and mental limitations. Based on these reasons, Maria strongly opposes suggestions to
abort the fetus.
The theories that best fit Maria’s views are theory based on human properties and theory
based on relationships. The first theory holds that all human beings have a moral status by virtue
of having life which begins at fertilization (Brown, 2018). Maria cannot, therefore, accept the
destruction of the fetus because she feels it has moral status.
The theory based on relationships also applies to her because she feels Jessica should
keep the child because of her obligation to the child as a mother. Thus, being a mother of the
child, she is obligated to bring it to the world and take care of it, not be party to its destruction.
As for Marco and Jessica it is hard determining the theories that apply to them because
they have not made any decision. Marco has agreed to support any decision that his wife makes.
He himself does not have strong opinions about the two options available to the wife. Jessica too
is yet to make up her mind between aborting and giving birth to the child.
Of the theories discussed here the ones I agree with are theory based on human properties
and theory based on relationships. I believe that all life is sacred and that all humans are created

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in the image of God. I also believe that the life of a human being begins at conception. Thus
fetuses are not just tissues that a doctor can do anything that they please with, they are potential
human beings, nascent human beings. They, therefore, have a moral status. As for the second
theory of human relationships, I believe that Jessica has a filial obligation to the unborn child.
Her role is to take care of it, not destroy it. Based on my agreement with these two theories, I
believe that Jessica should keep the baby despite its likely physical and mental limitations.

FETAL ABNORMALITY CASE STUDY 6

References

Bratton, M. (2018). The Image of God, Personhood and the Embryo.

Brown, M. T. (2018, March). The moral status of the human embryo. In The Journal of Medicine
and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine (Vol. 43, No. 2, pp.
132-158). US: Oxford University Press.
Shea, M. (2018, March). Human Nature and Moral Status in Bioethics. In The Journal of
Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine(Vol. 43,
No. 2, pp. 115-131). US: Oxford University Press.
Stensvold, A. (2015). A history of pregnancy in Christianity: From original sin to contemporary
abortion debates. Routledge.