Because the unborn child is not considered a legal person, the use of ultrasonography to detect fetal anomalies may be used to destroy their life as well as provide a potential benefit. This is illustrated by an Israeli study, which examined 536 pregnant women at 13-16 weeks gestation in a Jerusalem hospital during 1989-1991. According to the study, transvaginal ultrasonography identified 42 structured anomalies. Of the 42 identified unborn children, 24 were aborted and one died without abortion. The remaining 17 unborn children and the rest of the pregnant population underwent a second transabdominal ultrasound at 18-20 weeks gestation. This identified 8 additional structural anomalies that were not previously identified. In 5 cases where there had been a structural anomaly identified at 13-16 weeks, the anomaly had disappeared at 18-20 weeks. The authors concluded that the ultrasound method detected 41 out of 46 abnormal fetuses (89% efficiency).36
Comments: The clear purpose of the study was to identify as many as possible unborn children with deformities and then destroy them. No effort was made to make any therapeutic intervention to correct any abnormalities, nor was there any mention of the moral problem of aborting unborn children who did not have any abnormality but were aborted anyway.
Eugenic abortion fits the technological mold. According to this view, if a fetus is "defective," it can be replaced by another later on. After all, it is argued, one fetus is pretty much the same as another. . . If society is viewed in mechanical terms, elimination of "defectives" can contribute to the well-being of the state, its efficient functioning and ultimately to its immortality.37
A questionnaire was designed by Australian researchers to measure the attitude of researchers handling human fetal tissue. The questionnaire was sent to 36 researchers, who had handled human fetal tissue, as well as two other groups of university researchers -- one that dealt only with animal tissue, and one that did not handle tissue at all. The questionnaire was also sent to a group of hospital nurses, who dealt exclusively with patients and conducted no laboratory research. The questionnaire consisted of demographic background information, attitudes toward a variety of sensitive moral and political issues, general feelings about handling human fetal tissue, and an assessment of whether or not researchers were knowledgeable about the mechanics of retrieval and its use. A higher percentage of those handling human fetal tissue (41%) or who handled animal tissue (44%) professed no religious affiliation, compared to nurses (22%). Nurses were also rated as being more "conservative" compared to researchers, which was partly, but not fully explained by the fact that more nurses were female.
Almost all (87%) of the people who had handled fetal tissue reported that they had experienced some reaction, ranging from curiosity to tears and nightmares. It was further reported that these effects abated with time, and after a median of 12 months (range 1-84 months), 62% said they had no reaction. Among those with continuing reactions, included an inability to forget the experience, sadness, and unpleasantness.
It was found that researchers who handled human fetal tissue were significantly more likely to not object to having, or their partner having an abortion. No association between attitude toward abortion and working with fetal tissue was found in other groups. Researchers in general were also more likely to believe that it is quite acceptable for fetal tissue to be used experimentally in medical research, even if there is no benefit to patients, compared to nurses. Researchers who handled human fetal tissue and who believed their work would have no effect on them were also significantly less likely to frequent a place of worship than other groups. A substantial number of respondents (50%) were not aware of the maximum gestational age of the fetuses examined, and whether the mother gave consent for the use of the tissue (57%). The authors concluded that there was no justification for saying that people who work with human fetal tissue are rendered inhuman or brutalized.38
Comments: There is, in fact, evidence in this study that those who handle human fetal tissue may become hardened or desensitized with the passage of time and therefore may reasonably be considered to be more inhuman or brutalized. The data also suggests that the secularization of society and the loss of religious influence may also be a factor in the acceptance of fetal tissue for research.
A professor of medicine, psychiatry and biomedical ethics at Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio, was critical of the study. He recognized that organ and tissue transplantation is both life saving and death-ridden and that the use of fetal tissue aggravates the life-death paradox. He stated that fetuses represent, for many persons, the most helpless and innocent stage of human development, and that the fetus that is a source of tissue is used twice for the benefit of others. This is the mother who presumably benefits by the abortion and for the interests of others who may benefit from the use of fetal tissue. He believed that the conclusions of the study were unjustified and demonstrated a bias that permeated the entire article.39
Medical techniques related to induced abortion to procure fetal tissue and organs are international in scope. The countries involved include Australia, Sweden, England, Italy, Holland, Israel and the United States.
The importance of acquiring "useful" information and the idea that fetal tissue or organs may be "useful" is a strong theme in the studies.
This is consistent with other analyses. For example, James Bopp, Jr. and James T. Burtchaell criticized the endorsement of the use of aborted fetal remains for transplantation based on a utilitarian calculus of the "significant medical goals", which the research seeks to achieve.40 As early as 1949, American medicine was warned by Dr. Leo Alexander in his famous article on Medical Science under Dictatorship not to adopt the Hegelian premise of "what is useful is right", but that society, including the medical portion, had been infected by it.41
Similarly, the influence of eugenics is apparent, particularly in the case of medical techniques to destroy the human fetus, perceived to be abnormal or defective. However, there is also a certain ethical reluctance and reservation about using fetal tissue and organs obtained from induced abortions. This is apparent in the discussion on transplantation of fetal eggs into infertile women. It also arises in the article on the handling of human fetal tissue. There is yet remaining the idea among some, that there may be limits and that the human fetus is a class of human beings that is particularly vulnerable to exploitation and therefore should be protected.
However, the ultimate question is perhaps not only the loss of protection of the unborn child, but the loss of humanity itself. C S. Lewis calls the technicians of the new age "men without chests," and states in his book, The Abolition of Man (1947), that "the man-molders of the new age will be armed with the powers of an omni-competent state and an irresistible scientific technique... but man's final conquest has proven to be the abolition of man."42
1 The Technological Society, Jacques Ellul (1964), p. 142. Ellul defines technique as the translation into action of the concern to master things by means of reason, to account for what is subconscious, make quantitative what is qualitative, make clear and precise the outlines of nature, take hold of chaos and put order into it. Id. at p.43 [Back]
2 Technological Themes in the Abortion Debate, William C. Hunt in When Life and Choice Collide, ed. David Mall (1994) p. 266 [Back]
3 Influence of Thiopental Anesthesia on Fetal Motor Behavior in Early Pregnancy, N.P. Jorgenson, K Marshal, Early Human Development, 17:71, 1988 [Back]
4 Human Fetal Dopamine Neurons Grafted Into the Striatum in Two Patients With Severe Parkinson's Disease, O.Lindvall et al., Arch Neural, 46: 616, June 1989 [Back]
5 Abortion Practice, Warren Hern (1990) [Back]
6 Prevention of Uterine Perforation During Curettage Abortion, D.A. Grimes, K.F. Schulz, W.J. Cates, Jr. JAMA 251 (16): 2108, April 27, 1984 [Back]
7 45 Code of Federal Regulations 46.206 (a) (4); see also AMA Policy on legal, ethical implications of fetal tissue use, Medical Ethics Advisor, Sept. 1989, p. 123 (fetal tissue donated for transplantation should not affect the techniques used to induce the abortion. [Back]
8 Uterine Perforation Following Medical Termination of Pregnancy by Vacuum Aspiration, S. Mittal, S.L. Misra, International J. Gynaecol Obstet 23:45, 1985 (51% caused by suction cannula); Uterine Perforation in Connection with Vacuum Aspiration for Legal Abortion, P.J. Moberg Int'l J. Gynaecol Obstet 14:77, 1976 (10 of 19 perforations from metal cannula). [Back]
9 A comparison of Metal and Plastic Cannulae for Performing Vacuum Aspiration During the First Trimester of Pregnancy, S.S. Moghadam et al., Journal of Reproductive Medicine 17(3); 181, Sept. 1976 [Back]
10 Fetal Brain Transplantation for Parkinson's Disease: Technique for Obtaining Donor Tissue (letter), B. Gustavii, The Lancet, March 11,1989, p. 666 [Back]
11 Low-pressure Aspiration Abortion for Obtaining Embryonic and Early Gestational Fetal Tissue for Research Purposes, G. N. Navert, T.B. Freeman, Cell Transplantation 3(2): 147, 1994 [Back]
12 Method for first trimester selective abortion in multiple pregnancy, Y. Dumez, J. F. Oury, Contr Gynecol Obstet, 15:50, 1986 [Back]
13 Human fetal tissues grafted to rodent hosts, structural and functional observations of brain, adrenal and heart tissues in oculo, L Olson et al., Exp. Brain Res, 67; 163, 1987 [Back]
14 Cells From the Womb, Newsweek, February 22, 1993, p.49-51 [Back]
15 Fetal Islet Transplantation, C M. Peterson, L.Jovanovic-Peterson, B. Formby eds. (1988) [Back]
16 Fetal Islet Transplantation, C.M. Peterson, L.Jovanovic-Peterson, B. Formby eds. (1995) [Back]
17 Morphology, Yield and Functional Integrity of Islet-Like Cell Clusters in Tissue Culture of Human Fetal Pancreatic Obtained After Different Means of Abortion, Totonkoski et al., Acta Endocrinologica (Copenh) 118:68, 1988 [Back]
18 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Fetal Tissue Transplantation, Arthur R. Bauer (1994) p. 29, citing The Regulation of Fetal Tissue Transplantation, G.L Morgan, Univ. New South Wales LJ 1991; 14: 283 [Back]
19 More U.S. Curbs Urged in the Use of Fetal Tissue, Gina Kolata, New York Times, November 19, 1989, 1, 38 [Back]
20 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Fetal Tissue Transplantation, p.30 [Back]
21 Human Fetal Tissue Research; Practice, Prospects, and Policy, Alan Fine, Cell Transplantation 3(2); 113, 1994 [Back]
22 45 Code of Federal Regulations 46.203 (f) [Back]
23 An Improved Method of Isolating Fetal Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium, B.V Castillo et al., Current Eye Research 14: 677, 1995 [Back]
24 Susceptibility of Human Liver Cell Cultures to Hepatitis C Virus Infection, G. Carloni et al., Arch Vio1 8:31 (Suppl.), 1993 [Back]
25 Initiation of Oogenesis in the Human Fetal Ovary: Ultrastructure and Squash Preparation Study, B. Gondos, L Westergaard, A G. Byskov, Am. Journal of Obstet Gynecol 155: 189, 1986 [Back]
26 Transplantation of Fetal Germ Cells, Roger G. Gosden, J. of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 9 (2)-118, 1992 [Back]
27 Use of Fetal Eggs for Infertility Treatment is Banned, Luisa Dillner, British Medical Journal 309: 289, July 30, 1994 [Back]
28 Fetal Ovary Transplant is Envisioned, Gina Kolata, New York Times, Jan. 6, 1994, p. A16 [Back]
29 Transcervical Sonography: An Investigational Technique for Visualization of the Embryo, N. Ragarendra et al., Obstet Gyneco1 81:155, 1993 [Back]
30 Upper Face Morphology of Second Trimester Fetuses, P.P. Gill et al, Early Human Development 37:99, 1994 [Back]
31 Development and Distribution of Adipose Tissue in the Human Pelvis, H. Fritsch, W. Kuhnel, Early Human Development 28:79, 1992 [Back]
32 Immunoreactive Arginine Vasopressin in Human Fetal and Neonatal Skeletal Muscle A. Smith et al, Early Human Development 28:215, 1992 [Back]
33 Fetal Rh Blood Group Determination in Pregnancy Termination by Dilation and Evacuation, J.J. LaFerla, S. Butch, Transfusion 23: 67, 1983 [Back]
34 Differential Growth Between the Fetal Brain and its Infratentorial Part A-M Guihard-Costa, J-C Lavvoche, Early Human Development 23:27, 1990 [Back]
35 Essential Fatty Acid Status During Early Human Development, A C. v. Houwelingen et al., Early Human Development, 31: 97, 1992 [Back]
36 Transvaginal Ultrasonography at Early Pregnancy Cannot be Used Alone for Targeted Organ Ultrasonographic Examination in a High-risk Population, S. Yagel et al., Am. Journal of Obstet Gynecol, 172: 971, 1996 [Back]
37 Technological Themes in the Abortion Debate, William C. Hunt in When Life and Choice Collide, ed. David Mall (1994) p. 260, 262 [Back]
38 The Effect on Researchers on Handling Human Fetal Tissue, B.E. Tuch et al., The Journal of Clinical Ethics 4 (4): 319, Winter 1993 [Back]
39 The Psychological and Moral Consequences of Participating in Human Fetal-Tissue Research, Stuart J. Youngner, The Journal of Clinical Ethics 4(4): 366, Winter 1993 [Back]
40 Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel (Statement of Dissent, James Bopp, Jr., James T. Burtcheall) in Abortion Medicine and the Law, ed. JD Butler, DF Walbert (1991) at p. 785 [Back]
41 Medical Science Under Dictatorship, Leo Alexander, The New England Journal of Medicine 241 (2): 39,46, July 14, 1949 [Back]
42 The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis (1947) p. 73, 77. [Back]
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