Twin pregnancy reduction is not an ‘all or nothing’ problem: a response to Räsänen

Journal of Medical Ethics 48 (2):139-141 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In his paper, ‘Twin pregnancy, fetal reduction and the ‘all or nothing problem’, Räsänen sets out to apply Horton’s ‘all or nothing’ problem to the ethics of multifetal pregnancy reduction from a twin to a singleton pregnancy. Horton’s problem involves the following scenario: imagine that two children are about to be crushed by a collapsing building. An observer would have three options: do nothing, save one child by allowing their arms to be crushed, or save both by allowing their arms to be crushed. Horton offers two intuitively plausible claims: it is morally permissible not to save either child and it is morally impermissible to save only one of the children, which taken together lead to the problematic conclusion that if an observer does not save both children, then it is better to save neither than save only one. Räsänen applies this problem to the case of 2-to-1 MFPR, arguing ultimately that, in cases where there is no medical reason to reduce, the woman ought to bring both fetuses to term. We will argue that Räsänen does not provide adequate support for the claim, crucial to his argument, that aborting only one of the fetuses in a twin pregnancy is wrong, so the ‘all or nothing’ problem does not arise in this context. Furthermore, we argue that the scenario Räsänen presents is highly unrealistic because of the clinical realities of 2-to-1 MFPR, making his argument of limited use for real-life decision making in this area.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,337

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-01-21

Downloads
47 (#469,173)

6 months
8 (#583,676)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

Ethics of fetal reduction: a reply to my critics.Joona Räsänen - 2022 - Journal of Medical Ethics 48 (2):142-143.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The All or Nothing Problem.Joe Horton - 2017 - Journal of Philosophy 114 (2):94-104.
Abortion, intimacy, and the duty to gestate.Margaret Olivia Little - 1999 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 2 (3):295-312.

Add more references