Ask me why I care about scientific research into our sense of self given urgent questions like the climate crisis or wealth inequality facing the world today. My reasoning has always been that this stuff is existential, we humans have a deep drive to understand what our lives means to the Universe and vice versa.
Our sense of self, our identity is, in ways small and large, our most prized possession. Yet, our self-awareness dooms us to a lifetime of suffering as the Buddha explained twenty-five centuries ago. Will our suffering and hard-won insights just disappear once our time on this earth comes to an end? Searching for answers to questions like those is reason enough for me. For some people though, this feels like futile inquiry that leads nowhere. They would rather like to see some ‘practical’ research instead. So I thought I would lay out a current social and ethical quandary where research into our sense of self and consciousness is relevant.
The abortion quandary
There has been an ongoing debate about fetal abortion in the US for over a century. It became a raging wildfire in the last few months. In June of this year, the US Supreme Court overturned its own previous decision guaranteeing American women the right to abort a fetus legally, at least until it becomes capable of surviving outside the mother’s body after ~ 23 - 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Furthermore, this decision, within a few months, created a restrictive scenario for women seeking abortions through a large part of the country. Several states imposed strict limits on abortion, allowing abortion only up to 6 weeks of pregnancy, and many other states are in the process of doing the same.
What are the key arguments on both sides and how does it relate to self-awareness?
The pro-choice, legal-right-to-abortion faction, which includes 55% of Americans , agrees a woman should have the right to determine what happens to her own body, mind and life. A pregnancy is a life-changing event in many different ways. On occasion, pregnancy may risk the life of the mother or result in the possible birth of a child with no chance of survival over a few days to weeks. Read of a harrowing account of a recent case here.
In other instances, it may be a culturally, morally opprobrious choice, e.g. in cases of incest or adultery; tragically affecting the very beginning of the child’s life journey or breaking apart an existing family. In some instances, the pregnancy may be the result of rape, which creates a hellish situation for the mother and child for the combined duration of their lives. The decision seems somewhat clear to most people in these instances: a choice between a lifetime of physical and / or mental suffering versus a mental trauma which fades with time.
Statistically most abortions in the US do not fall in the categories described above. They are performed mostly on women who already have had children but do not wish to continue a particular pregnancy due to less dramatic but equally fraught personal reasons.
A pregnancy is not only a huge commitment for its duration, but a lifelong commitment through infancy to adulthood and beyond. A woman might be unprepared for it at the stage of life she finds herself in. She may have other children to provide for, without adequate means of support. She may have to lose her job or even a career due to an unplanned pregnancy. She may be afraid of the physical consequences to her body and mind. Every pregnancy and subsequent child-rearing are complex decisions with life-altering implications especially for women who have fewer resources and support structures.
For these reasons and more, women will continue to seek abortion. Making it illegal forces them to endanger their lives at the hands of illegal providers who may not be able to deliver appropriate care, undergo psychological trauma and indignity due to social stigma and lack of support when they most need it. This is why the pro-choice camp believes the decision is best left to the woman and their family. It is their personal cross to bear whichever path they choose. A choice, hopefully, very few people will be forced to make but should have the right to do so. They believe in the fundamental right of every woman to determine her own physical, mental and personal well-being that is afforded to everyone else in society and guaranteed by the principle of equality of the sexes.
Amongst the ~ 39% of Americans who are broadly opposed to most abortions aka pro-life, there exists a vocal minority, ~12% of women and 14% of men believe abortion should be illegal in all cases. They believe it is no different than taking the life of another person. They firmly believe human life starts at conception. They argue embryology informs us that the single-celled embryo or zygote only needs time and the womb’s environment to develop into a fully-formed person. Hence, they conclude, a single-celled zygote is no different than a person, and there is only one morally clear choice: abortion should be illegal under any circumstance (see Gallup link above).
They are absolutely certain about the uniqueness of human life (consciousness) and deem that it is sacred above all other conscious life. They apparently seek moral certitude, a clear conscience. Pursuing these beliefs, some states (Alabama, for example) have declared fetuses to be persons with rights, making abortions illegal under any circumstance.
Americans overall, are not so sure. 61% women and ~ 50% men polled think abortion is acceptable under certain circumstances. They agree women have a right to choose what happens to their own bodies. That women have the freedom to choose their own destiny, and its OK if others don’t agree with that choice. At the same time, they wish to strike a balance between the woman’s rights to decide for herself with the preferable outcome of not aborting a fetus which has the potential for new life.
For some of them, it may be important to know perhaps, that the zygote or the early fetus is not equivalent to a person but is more like an organ or body part when aborted. Except they are unsure of where to draw the line. Science may be able to help here. At what point does a fetus turn into a conscious person from being an unconscious part of the woman’s body? Can science provide some insight?
Can science provide insight into what a person is?
The short answer is not at present. Our understanding of nervous system features that underpin memory formation and its storage, conscious perception and self-awareness is limited. We can refute definitive claims made about fetal personhood with some scientific confidence, but cannot positively define personhood at this time.
In order to begin scientifically understanding when the fetus may become a person, it is helpful to start at the other end of life. We believe in a life well-lived. All of us hope to live interesting lives filled with enriching experiences, friendships, relations, professional and personal achievements until we eventually come to the end of our journey. We believe all these facets of life are what makes us uniquely human. A sort of pinnacle or ideal of what personhood is.
For some, this journey is abruptly interrupted due to tragic accidents. They may have plans in place for such eventualities and wish to donate their organs in case they are involved in an accident with no chance of recovery due to brain death.
There is a consensus in society, brain death is where personhood ends, though their heart and other organs may remain functional and are used in many instances to improve the lives of several other people. With almost 100% certainty, we agree that a body without a brain is not a person any longer.
Even so, it is by all accounts, a very hard decision to turn off life support. These hard decisions are taken every day, with society’s approval and encouragement, with no fanfare or political drama, except the tremendous loss experienced privately by each family.
About 90% of abortions in the US are performed at less than 12 weeks of pregnancy. At this developmental stage there is a high degree of scientific certainty that the fetus is not conscious, there is no self, no person there. The nervous system is at a very rudimentary state of development and the structures that support conscious feelings and thoughts (viz. the cerebral cortex) are several weeks away from inception, let alone becoming mature enough to support even a minimal form of awareness.
Yet anti-abortion advocates, the vocal 12-14% minority, insist on displaying 3-D and 4-D ultrasound images of much later stage fetuses and engaging in debate about fetal pain which are simply not relevant in a vast majority of abortions in the US.
The ultrasound images are misleading, they trigger our parental instinct, compassion and empathy. This instinct, which is very powerful and indiscriminate (see the baby robot picture above and rate its cuteness), seems almost hardwired in us. It can be triggered by almost every baby-like form, baby-like sounds and smells. No surprise then, when pro-life / anti-abortion activists are able to trigger strong emotions amongst lay people unaware of this powerful instinct.
Approximately 1% of US abortions are performed after 21 weeks of gestation. A variety of reasons can necessitate these including severe health risks to the mother and some lethal fetal abnormalities detected only at this stage of development. Past 24 weeks of gestational age, the science becomes controversial and we may be entering the territory of hard choices at that point.
Even so, there is little evidence of functional cortical connections that may underpin consciousness until after 30 weeks of gestation. Even after that age, there are good scientific arguments due to anesthetic-like substances in the amniotic fluid and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus to suggest that it may be in an ‘unconscious’ state throughout until subject to the rude awakening of birth. Studies into consciousness and self-awareness may have the strongest impact in these later fetal stages in the future.
It appears that a vocal minority with strong beliefs inconsistent with our current scientific understanding of consciousness, are trying to impose their beliefs on to a conflicted society by exploiting their hardwired parental instincts. Unlike this minority who seek a clear conscience at all costs; most Americans seem quite aware and capable of difficult choices if faced with them. Scientific studies into consciousness and self-awareness will eventually help define the borders of these hard choices.