ABSTRACT
A miscarriage involves the premature birth of a foetus which dies. An abortion, at the level of a dictionary definition, is the wilful causing of a miscarriage. The status of the foetus, for many people would agree with Roger Wertheimer that whether an embryo constitutes a form of human life is crucial to determining the rights and wrongs of abortion. The author's view is that the foetus, and even the small infant, do not count as persons in the moral sense, but in any case the status of the foetus cannot in itself determine the issue of abortion. The merit of being unaffected by the status of the foetus, it has the great attraction of preserving our sense that abortion is not the sort of thing that involves no moral considerations, and can be indulged in at whim, while allowing that it may nonetheless be morally justifiable.
