When a mentally ill woman refuses abortion.

A case study is presented in which an institutionalized, schizophrenic woman refuses the abortion her legal guardian wants her to have. Her psychiatrist considers her to be incapable of responsible parenthood, and her child would probably be placed in permanent foster care. Mahowald considers a legal determination of the woman's competence to be crucial, although she argues that even a legally incompetent person may be capable of moral decisions. She maintains that, in this case, the moral standing of the fetus supports allowing the abortion refusal to stand. Abernethy assumes that a court would uphold the woman's refusal, but that the decision would be based on a fallacious acceptance of the right to procreate without acknowledging the corresponding responsibility to raise the child.