Navigating the Ethical Issues of Anencephaly

Conceiving a child with anencephaly can bring up some ethical issues that parents might not have ever previously considered in their lives. Or, even if they have considered the issues, these issues may not have been truly meaningful to them until they were forced to confront them through an anencephalic pregnancy.

To Continue or End the Pregnancy

The main ethical dilemma that is raised during an anencephalic pregnancy is whether to carry the child to term, even though it is guaranteed to die shortly after, or to electively end the pregnancy. The usual pro-life or pro-choice arguments can become muddied when anencephaly is introduced; while some might be pro-life in the event of a normal pregnancy, they may consider that an anencephalic infant to not be a full “person” in the ethical sense, due to the fact that it lacks a brain.

No one can make the decision for you or tell you the right or wrong response to an anencephalic pregnancy. As the parents, it is your decision, and a very private one. To help you make that decision, we have put together some common arguments for and against ending an anencephalic pregnancy. This is done with the hope that you can see the logic in each argument and perhaps be more able to come to a decision that sits right with you.

Common Pro-Choice Arguments and Rebuttals

The Personhood Argument: No one would argue that a fetus is not a human being. From the point of conception, it is indeed a human, albeit a tiny, very undeveloped one. However, just because it is a human, that does not mean that it’s a person, an individual imbued with a particular set of rights, such as the right to life, the right to own property, the right to privacy, etc. The fetus does not have the ability to communicate, move, or survive outside of its mother’s womb—it doesn’t have any of the trappings of a person (although it is human) and thus, it does not demand the rights that a full person would.
The “Drawing the Line” Rebuttal: If the fetus is in fact not a person, when does it become a person? At the moment of birth? When it is born, it is still unable to communicate extensively or survive without the aid of its parents—it is still not a person using the criteria you defined. Should infanticide then be legal as well?
The Sentience Argument: The criteria we use to decide if a human should demand a full set of rights, such as the right to life, is if it has some level of sentience. Indeed, when an adult human is declared brain dead, even though their physical body may be kept alive on machines, society widely accepts that it is permissible to let their physical body die; this is because the person lack the sentience that defines being human.
The Brutalization Rebuttal: While an anencephalic fetus may not be sentient, since it does not have a cerebrum, ending its life through an abortion would have a brutalizing affect on society. There is a distinct difference between allowing someone to die by taking them off a ventilator and purposefully extracting a fetus from the womb.

Common Pro-Life Arguments and Rebuttals

The Person-From-Conception Argument: It is impossible to define an exact time when a fetus goes from being just a lump of tissue to being a full-fledged human being. In fact, by 10 weeks of age, a fetus already has a defined face, hands, and feet. To draw a line where abortion should be legal would be arbitrary, and thus, a fetus deserves the full rights of a human being from conception onwards.
The “Unconscious Violinist” Rebuttal: Imagine a scenario where you wake up in a hospital bed, with tubes connecting you to another human being. You have no recollection of getting to the hospital; in fact, the Society of Music Lovers has kidnapped you, placed you there, and hooked your circulatory system up to a virtuoso violinist who happens to be dying. “Don’t worry,” the Music Lovers tell you. “It’s only for nine months that you’ll be stuck in the hospital, hooked up to the violinist. By then he’ll have recovered, and you’ll be free to go.” While this scenario is a bit ridiculous, the point is that, even if the fetus does have rights, its rights do not outweigh those of the mother. The fetus is using the mother’s body, and thus, the mother has the ability to decide whether to keep the fetus alive or not.

Sources:

A Defense of Abortion. (1971) Judith Jarvis Thomson.

Pro-life responses to pro-abortion arguments. (2011) Students for Life at St. Louis University.