RT Article
T1 Threat of Imminent Death in Pregnancy: A Role for Double-Effect Reasoning
JF Theological studies
VO 72
IS 4
SP 848
OP 878
A1 Magill, Gerard 1951-
LA English
PB Sage Publ.
YR 2011
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1776671392
AB In the Phoenix case, pulmonary hypertension threatened the life of an eleven-week pregnant mother. Removal of the placenta as the organ threatening the mother's life necessarily included extracting the amniotic membranes containing the fetus. The author proposes this argument: the principle of double effect clarifies that causing the death of the fetus (destined to die, whatever transpired) while avoiding a direct physical assault on it constitutes an indirect and unintended (albeit foreseen) side effect, thereby justifying the intervention.
DO 10.1177/004056391107200407