Speaking only for myself, not co-authors: I think the concept of personhood has become highly politicized in the US, due largely to abortion laws that attempt to limit reproductive rights by conferring legal personhood on fetuses. Medical organizations have come out strongly against this, e.g.:
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) opposes any proposals, laws, or policies that attempt to confer “personhood” to a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus. These laws and policies are used to limit, restrict, or outright prohibit access to care for women and people seeking reproductive health care, including those who are pregnant, those who are trying to prevent pregnancy, and those who are trying to become pregnant, and they have been used as the basis of surveillance and prosecution of pregnant people.
Our results suggest that US bioethicists overwhelmingly believe that abortion is ethically permissible, and it’s thus possible that their responses to the “A being becomes a person...” question were influenced by their views on the permissibility of abortion and wariness about how concepts of personhood are being used to restrict access to reproductive care.
(Separately, you may also be interested in this recent paper.)
Thanks for the reply Leah! That’s interesting and your may will be right, although it doesn’t directly address the ethical reasoning. I would hope though bioethicists would look beyond this kind of approach you suggest might be happeninh
“it’s thus possible that their responses to the “A being becomes a person...” question were influenced by their views on the permissibility of abortion and wariness about how concepts of personhood are being used to restrict access to reproductive care.
Surely ethics as a field is better built from the ground up based on their take on the biology and philosophy here, not retrofitted to address a practical question like abortion rights?
Speaking only for myself, not co-authors: I think the concept of personhood has become highly politicized in the US, due largely to abortion laws that attempt to limit reproductive rights by conferring legal personhood on fetuses. Medical organizations have come out strongly against this, e.g.:
Our results suggest that US bioethicists overwhelmingly believe that abortion is ethically permissible, and it’s thus possible that their responses to the “A being becomes a person...” question were influenced by their views on the permissibility of abortion and wariness about how concepts of personhood are being used to restrict access to reproductive care.
(Separately, you may also be interested in this recent paper.)
Thanks for the reply Leah! That’s interesting and your may will be right, although it doesn’t directly address the ethical reasoning. I would hope though bioethicists would look beyond this kind of approach you suggest might be happeninh
“it’s thus possible that their responses to the “A being becomes a person...” question were influenced by their views on the permissibility of abortion and wariness about how concepts of personhood are being used to restrict access to reproductive care.
Surely ethics as a field is better built from the ground up based on their take on the biology and philosophy here, not retrofitted to address a practical question like abortion rights?