NEWSWEEK COVER: Should a Fetus Have Rights?
Majority of Americans Believe Life Begins at Conception;
56% Support Separate Murder Charges For Killing of Fetus
Advances In Fetal Science Fuels Political, Moral and Ethical Debates
NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- A majority of Americans believe that life
either begins at conception (46%) or when an embryo is implanted in a woman's
uterus (12%), according to a special Newsweek poll. Another quarter (24%)
believe human life begins when the fetus is viable, i.e., can survive outside
the womb. Only 11 percent believe that human life begins at birth. The
findings are part of the June 9 cover story, "Should a Fetus Have Rights?,"
(on newsstands Monday, June 2). National Correspondent Debra Rosenberg
examines the new battle over the fate of the unborn, as abortion opponents
build a legal case to define the fetus-and even the embryo-as an individual
entitled to basic human rights.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030601/NYSU011 )
Rosenberg reports that the politics of the womb have never been more
personal -- or more complicated. With the Laci Peterson murder case making
headlines and Congress poised to tackle both the Unborn Victims of Violence
Act and the ban on partial-birth abortion this month, fetal rights have found
new prominence on the public stage. Recent dramatic breakthroughs in fetal and
reproductive medicine only add to the confusion. Along with forcing Americans
into more-nuanced stances, the new science is also fanning longstanding,
divisive political feuds -- over the legality and morality of ending a
pregnancy, about the rights of a woman versus the rights of an embryo or
fetus, and, ultimately, over the meaning of human life.
Rosenberg reports that 28 states have fetal-homicide laws on the books. In
many states, the laws take effect only after a fetus is able to live outside
the uterus, around 24 weeks. But 14 states cover a developing child from the
moment an embryo implants in a woman's uterus-well within the legal time frame
for an abortion. The Newsweek Poll shows that when it comes to criminal
penalties for killing a fetus, Americans widely believe that a fetus should be
treated as a human life. When asked whether prosecutors should be able to
bring separate murder charges against someone who kills a fetus still in the
womb, a majority (56%) of Americans say this should be done in all cases where
a pregnant woman is murdered and another quarter (28%) would allow it only in
cases where the fetus is considered viable. There is majority support for
charging a killer with a double murder among Republicans (61%), Democrats
(54%), and Independents (55%). Almost three-quarters (71%) of those who are
pro-life and less than half (41%) of those who are pro-choice hold such views.
Rosenberg reports that abortion-rights activists worry that the new focus
on the fetus is part of a broad strategy to undermine the very bedrock of Roe
v. Wade. The courts are the other major weapon in the fetal-rights arsenal,
she writes. If they can't overturn Roe directly, abortion opponents would like
nothing more than to have sympathetic judges in as many courtrooms as
possible. The fight is certain to grow even uglier if, as expected, there's at
least one vacancy on the high court before Bush leaves office.
Abortion opponents are setting their sights on ever-tinier targets,
including the thousands of frozen embryos in storage at in vitro fertilization
clinics across the country, Rosenberg reports. The Newsweek Poll indicates
that although nearly half (46%) of Americans would consider a fertilized egg
the beginning of human life, significantly fewer (33%) say they regard the
extra human embryos created in fertility clinics as "children to be adopted."
About a quarter (27%) think of them more as a "potential source of human
organs than can be donated" and another quarter (22%) think of them as neither
children nor a source of organs. By a margin of 49 percent to 37 percent,
Americans feel it is okay for clinics to destroy these extra human embryos if
their patients approve. Among those who are pro-choice, that margin widens to
69 percent versus 22 percent.
Rosenberg also interviews two bioethicists to examine the pros and cons of
fetal rights. Bonnie Steinbock, a bioethicist in favor of abortion rights,
makes the case against fetal rights. She has written several books on medical
ethics, including "Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos
and Fetuses," and is chair of philosophy at SUNY Albany. Hadley Arkes, the
author of "Natural Rights and the Right to Choose" and a fellow in Princeton
University's politics department, argues on behalf of the embryo.
Also in the cover package, General Editor Claudia Kalb reports that no
matter what legislators, activists, judges or even individual Americans decide
about fetal rights, medicine has already granted unborn babies a unique form
of personhood-as patients. From rare in utero procedures to the amazing 3-D
ultrasound prints made in chain stores like Fetal Fotos, recent scientific
advances have taken us inside the womb and enabled us to see, as never before,
the wonder of developing life. In any other field of medicine, the impact of
these dramatic improvements in treatment and technology would be limited
largely to doctors, patients and their families, Kalb writes. But 30 long and
contentious years after Roe v. Wade, science that benefits fetuses cannot help
but fuel the ongoing political, moral and ethical debates. And the doctors
know this better than anyone. Kalb explores the advances of fetal science,
including experimental treatments ranging from tumor removal to spinal cord
repair.
(Read Newsweek's news releases at
http://www.Newsweek.MSNBC.com. Click "Pressroom.")
SOURCE Newsweek