Abstract
Considering the conditions of pregnant women's decision making processes is indispensable in the case of maternal-fetal surgery (MFS), because the surgery involves severe invasion into healthy women's bodies. This paper examines the ethical issues of MFS, focusing on the invasiveness of the surgery. First, we discuss the argument regarding fetuses as patients, which takes a positive stance on the surgery. We point out that it is important to verify the authenticity of a woman's decision about the surgery, even if it is appropriate to regard a fetus as a patient who has the moral status of a person independent of the pregnant woman. Second, we examine the factors that effect women's decision making processes for the surgery. For MFS, pregnant women's decision making is based on the comparison of the costs and benefits of the surgery. For pregnant women, the surgery has no benefit but only brings costs and risks from the medical (physical and physiological) perspective. The potential benefits women expect from the surgery are psycho-social ones like a reduction of the disabilities of a child after birth. We examine the contents of these psycho-social benefits and clarify the necessery condition for the surgery.
