尊重生命－由優生保健法第三章第九條論胎兒生命權的抉擇與維護

To Keep It or Not? On Woman's Right to Decide Fetus' Life

張淑美(Sue-May Chang) ； 陳慧姿(Hui-Tzu Chen)

《生死學研究》 5期 (2007/01) Pp. 1-42

https://doi.org/10.29844/JLDS.200701.0001

摘要

據估計台灣近幾年來每年約有數十萬的女性墮胎，絕大多數係根據優生保健法第三章第九條第六款「因懷孕或生產將影響其心理健康或家庭生活者」作為墮胎的理由。也就是墮胎之真正理由，多數並非基於危及母體健康等考量，而是因為胎兒不是被期盼的，可能是因胎兒是女孩、家庭經濟困難、子女眾多不勝負荷、父母親太忙而不想擁有小孩、影響女性發展、非婚懷孕……等因素所造成。簡言之，多非基於優生保健的立意，反而是其他因素而造成墮胎浮濫、傷及無辜胎兒的情況。基於尊重生命的立場，實在值得從各種角度審慎思辨女性對胎兒生命權的抉擇問題。
基於上述背景，本文從三方面探討胎兒生命權的問題：首先，分析優生保健法的源由及其對胎兒生命權的衝擊；第二，由法學、宗教、倫理與臨床醫學的觀點探討胎兒生命權的主張；第三，討論不同觀點對胎兒生命權的抉擇與處理，包括析論女性自主權與抉擇權的衝突；最後，本文提出多元的防治方案，強調事先防治與事後輔導的重要性，提出從修法、生命教育、醫療體系、社會資源和社會制度等方面來維護、關懷與尊重生命；希望社會大眾面對女性是否孕育生命及相關的墮胎議題時，能以更寬廣的角度去思維，進而研擬更尊重生命的作法。

關鍵字

墮胎 ； 優生保健法 ； 人工流產 ； 生命倫理 ； 生命教育

並列摘要

In Taiwan, it is estimated that there have been hundreds of thousands of abortions taken place each year since the government passed the Genetic Health Law. Nonetheless, the reasons of the majority of those abortions were not due to protecting the health of the pregnant women or family life, which is of the spirit of the law, but because of the effects of aborting the ”unwanted” children. The law seems to be overused, consequently, affecting many innocent lives. It is worthwhile to reconsider the fetus' right of life from various perspectives.
This paper explores the fetus' right of life from three aspects. First, it analyzes the core value of the Genetic Health Law and its impacts. Second, it studies several perspectives ranging from law, religion, life ethics, medical practice, female's right of choice, and psychology. Third, it also explores women's autonomy and options to a fetus' life. Finally, by emphasizing both pro-prevention and post-consultation, multiple approaches to address the issue are also proposed in the paper. Hopefully, by introducing those ideas, when dealing with abortion, people can be respectful of both mother's choices and fetus' right of life.

並列關鍵字

Abortion ； Genetic Health Law ； Induced abortion ； Life ethics ； Life education