{"id":15798,"date":"1986-09-12T20:11:00","date_gmt":"1986-09-13T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=15798"},"modified":"2023-02-01T20:19:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T04:19:40","slug":"prenatal-diagnosis-and-female-abortion-a-case-study-in-medical-law-and-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=15798","title":{"rendered":"Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bernard M Dickens<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"172\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/jmedicalethics.jpg\" alt=\"Journal of Medical Ethics\" class=\"wp-image-11057\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Journal of Medical Ethics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>Alarm over the prospect that prenatal diagnostic techniques, which permit identification of fetal sex and facilitate abortion of healthy but unwanted female fetuses has led some to urge their outright prohibition. This article argues against that response. Prenatal diagnosis permits timely action to preserve and enhance the life and health of fetuses otherwise endangered, and, by offering assurance of fetal normality, may often encourage continuation of pregnancies otherwise vulnerable to termination. Further, conditions in some societies may sometimes render excusable the inclination to abort certain healthy female fetuses. In places where abortion for fetal sex alone is recognised as unethical, however, medical licensing authorities already possess the power to discipline, for professional misconduct, physicians who prescribe or perform prenatal diagnosis purely to identify fetal sex, or those who disclose fetal sex when that is unrelated to the fetus&#8217;s medical condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Dickens BM.  <a href=\"https:\/\/jme.bmj.com\/content\/12\/3\/143.long\">Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics. <\/a> J Med Ethics 1986 Sep; 12(3): 143-144.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bernard M Dickens AbstractAlarm over the prospect that prenatal diagnostic techniques, which permit identification of fetal sex and facilitate abortion of healthy but unwanted female fetuses has led some to urge their outright prohibition. This article argues against that response. Prenatal diagnosis permits timely action to preserve and enhance the life and health of fetuses &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=15798\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,554,2,559],"tags":[1147,1054],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-15798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-ethics","category-journal-article","category-law","tag-bernard-m-dickens","tag-sex-selection"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Conditions in some societies may render excusable abortion of healthy female fetuses. 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