Fetal viability

Fetal pain, abortion, viability, and the Constitution.

In early 2010, the Nebraska state legislature passed a new abortion restricting law asserting a new, compelling state interest in preventing fetal pain. In this article, we review existing constitutional abortion doctrine and note difficulties presented by persistent legal attention to a socially derived viability construct. We then offer a substantive biological, ethical, and legal critique of...

Viability and fetal life in state criminal abortion laws.

Fetal growth restriction at the limits of viability.

The outcome of early small-for-gestational age and/or intrauterine growth-restricted fetuses is reviewed. In these fetuses the outcome appears to be considerably poorer than that of appropriately grown fetuses and this seems mainly to be caused by intrauterine malnutrition rather than by hypoxemia. Active management of intrauterine growth restriction at the limits of viability may not be commen...

[Abortion and fetal non-viability: the Brazilian debate].

The Case Against Non-Compliance with the Fundamental Principle concerning Anencephaly, under review by the Brazilian Supreme Court, is a milestone in the debate on abortion in Latin America. Since the currently prevailing version of the Brazilian Penal Code was enacted in 1940, there has been fierce resistance to any change in the country's abortion policy. This article discusses the arguments ...

How to Assess Equine Fetal Viability by Transrectal Ultrasound Evaluation of Fetal Peripheral Pulses

The most significant ultrasound parameters indicating viability of the equine fetus include fetal heart rate and fetal activity. Abnormal patterns in fetal heart rate reactivity represent the most sensitive indicator of fetal compromise. In advanced to late gestation, the fetal cardiac area becomes quite inaccessible to an ultrasound examination per rectum. Peripheral arterial pulses may be use...