The authors of the article, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva explain why “after-birth abortion”—the killing of newborn infants—should be permitted…. In their article, they argue that there is a serious philosophical issue when conditions, which exist after birth, are the same as those that exist during the gestational period. If the conditions before birth were to justify an abortion, then “after-birth abortion” would also be justified. In these cases, they contend, “we need to assess facts in order to decide whether the same arguments that apply to killing a human fetus can also be consistently applied to killing a newborn human.” They conclude that “killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.” Even if newborn infants have the potential to lead an acceptable life, their killing would be justifiable whenever they are a burden on the family and/or society. …The authors’ advocacy for killing weak and vulnerable infants surely could be compared to, and could have been inspired by, the Nazi extermination handbooks of the 1930s that supported the killing of “unworthy” people who were gassed….
