Abortion in the case of a terminal prenatal diagnosis

Abortion in the case of a terminal prenatal diagnosis |: Extreme disability or deformity does not justify killing the unborn any more than it justifies killing those (disabled or deformed people) who are already born. Rather, to justify abortion, one would have to demonstrate that the unborn human being does not merit the kind of basic regard each of us (you, me, a terminally-ill teenager, etc.) merits — the kind of regard that precludes intentional killing. The fact of a terminal diagnosis is simply not ethically relevant.

Second, choosing abortion when a child has a fatal defect probably does not best serve the pregnant woman’s emotional and psychological health (as those advocating for abortion assume). She seems better served when her unborn child is treated as a real patient deserving care, and that is what the option of perinatal hospice and palliative care is all about.