Miscarriage Is Not a Cause of Death: A Response to Berg’s “Abortion and Miscarriage”

Abstract

Some opponents of abortion claim fetuses are persons from the moment of conception. Call these “Personhood-At-Conception” (or PAC), opponents of abortion. Amy Berg (2017, Philosophical Studies 174:1217–26) argues that if fetuses are persons from the moment of conception, then miscarriage kills far more people than abortion. Thus, PAC opponents of abortion must “immediately” and “substantially” shift their attention, resources, etc., toward preventing miscarriage or admit they do not believe that personhood begins at conception (or, at least, they should recognize they are not acting in ways consistent with this belief). Unfortunately, Berg’s argument fails at every step. After outlining her argument, I show that her claim—that “miscarriage . . . is much deadlier than abortion”—is false (when taken literally) and misleading otherwise. Further, Berg’s argument is identical in structure to a criticism sometimes levied against the “Black Lives Matter” movement. In the latter context, the argument has been vehemently rejected. Berg’s argument should be rejected for the same reasons. Finally, Berg cites no evidence when claiming that PAC opponents of abortion are “not doing enough” to prevent miscarriage. And, even if PAC opponents of abortion are not diverting substantial funds toward miscarriage prevention, Berg fails to notice that this may be for good reason.

The Scourges: Why Abortion Is Even More Morally Serious than Miscarriage

“…5 Probably, the total number of spontaneous abortions still exceeds the number of induced abortions by several times. For Colgrove (2021) and Blackshaw and Rodger (2019) , this does affect the argument, although not by a great deal and likewise for my own argument.…”

“… 14 Colgrove (2021) makes similar points, while Marino (2008) presents a summary of current research. …”

“…It is not solely fixated on saving as many lives as possible. It is aimed at revealing (and undoing) systematic injustice that is directed toward certain people” ( Colgrove, 2021 ).…”

“… 13 See the figure cited for genetics research here, and Colgrove’s (2021) estimate for money spent on fertility research. …”