Protect Fetuses

Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 13:52:32 -0400
To: drgarden@erols.com
From: w44@psu.edu (Clifford H. Wagner)

Dear Dr. Gardenier-

Your committee has prepared an excellent draft.

I have only one suggestion: The committee should add fetuses to the list
of populations deserving special protection in item D.6. Since the
groups on this list are those "who are not fully and freely capable of
protecting their own interests," it seems to me that fetuses merit
inclusion even more than pregnant women.

A suggested wording is to change the phrasing "pregnant women" to
"pregnant women and their fetuses". Our society often distinguishes
between the interests of pregnant women and their fetuses, therefore one
should not take for granted that fetuses are already covered in item D.
6.

I am not suggesting that ASA take a stand on abortion laws and such, but
I do hope that the ASA will recognize the need to protect human fetuses.

Clifford H. Wagner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
The Pennsylvania State University

Response from Dr. Gardenier:

Your suggestion is an excellent one, Clifford. We have been chastised
for suggesting that pregnant women require special protection (as do
prisoners and the mentally handicapped.) Substituting "fetuses" for
"pregnant women" may well solve the problem. John