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The Physician as Political Actor: Late Abortion and The Strictures of Liberal Moral Discourse

Department of Divinity, University of Aberdeen

John Wyatt

Department of Paediatrics, Child Health, University College London

By examining the range of factors pressing on medical professionals faced with a decision in a case of late-term abortion, it becomes apparent that the theological resources ruled out of bounds by the standard account can be considered an essential part of a truly liberating and properly supple moral account of medical decision-making. Close attention to the social, political and legal context of contemporary medicine reveals that the standard account of medical ethics, Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Beauchamp and Childress, despite its universalist aspirations, disempowers rather than empowers moral decision-making by medical professionals.

Key Words: ethics • late-term abortion • martyrdom • physicians • Principles of Biomedical Ethics

Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol. 19, No. 2, 153-168 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0953946806066147


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