Recurrent spontaneous abortion. Scientific aspects and moral obligations

Abstract

Although the Iiterature on the morality of abortion is extensive, the debate almost always refers to the induced abortion. Little is said, however, about the moral relevance of spontaneous abortion, that is the termination of the pregnancy regardless of the woman's will and whether or not she even knows she is pregnant. The authors first present a medical account of recurrent spontaneous abortion: the incidence, aetiology and treatment. They present the protocol followed at the Department of obstetrics and gynecology of the Catholic University in Rome, where some of them work. They then discuss the moral significance of spontaneous abortion and examine it in the light of the two major opposing claims regarding the morality of induced abortion. In the authors' view it is unacceptable to make an identification between events in nature and moral precepts, so the existence of diseases in nature (which is what spontaneous abortion is) does not mean that one is obliged to induce them. In other words, the appeal to nature as foundation for a kind of natural moral law does not derive from the simple observation of phenomena in nature but from the concept of human nature. Taking into consideration the respect due to human life from the moment of the fertilization, the authors conclude that one is morally obliged to try and prevent spontaneous abortion as well as to research new ways of detecting conception immediately since it is. Any evasion of these responsabilities might result in morally culpable negligence of "spontaneous" abortion.