The concept of late-term abortions applies to aborting a fetus when it is in the later stages of gestations. Traditionally, this term has applied to fetuses in the third trimester of development, and refers to the abortion of fetuses at a developmental phase where they would be viable as babies if they were removed from the womb and given necessary prenatal care (Reagan, 1997). Those studying the ethics of late-term abortions are thus faced with a difficult additional correlate to the basic discussion of the ethics of abortion – Rather than asking whether abortion is in and of itself ethically appropriate, the question then becomes whether it is ethically appropriate to abort a fetus which could theoretically be a living, viable, and independent organism. This paper surveys the ethical issues found within the topic of late-term abortions.
