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It Is More Difficult to Justify Abortion If Fetuses Are Parts of Their Mothers
Published in Nicholas Colgrove, Bruce P. Blackshaw, Daniel Rodger, Agency, Pregnancy and Persons, 2023
I suspect that the most illuminating analogy for understanding the exercise of autonomy over one’s body is not hairs, kidneys, eggs, blood or fat but conjoined twins. They are living human beings. They share parts. Imagine conjoined twins who share parts that are essential to the life of each. Neither should be able to control that shared part and say take it with them upon surgical separation, even though it is one of their parts.26 Nor if the shared part is essential to just one of the twins should the other be allowed to destroy it in the separation procedure. I think that is true even if one conjoined twin is autonomous but the other with the greater need for the shared parts is not because of a mental impairment. It is hard to believe that if adult conjoined twins were both autonomous but one ceased to be due to a blow to the head resulting in a childlike mind, then the diminished twin could be killed. It seems that a proxy is called for, not a disregard of its well-being for which it can’t advocate. What holds for the minimally minded twin should apply to the fetus. So parthood per se doesn’t provide the autonomous with control over shared parts.
Cultural aspects of development
Published in Frank J. Dye, Human Life Before Birth, 2019
The expression “Siamese twins” evokes the image of two newborns anatomically joined together. More correctly, these are called conjoined twins. Siamese twins actually refers to conjoined twins, Chang and Eng, born in Siam (Thailand) during the nineteenth century. These brothers were part of a circus troupe and became a world-famous curiosity. They married sisters and each sired a large number of children. There are many kinds of conjoined twins, based on how intimately they are connected. This connection ranges from trivial joining easily separated by surgery to fetus in fetu, in which one twin is a tiny parasiticlike growth on the larger twin. Conjoined twins result when the embryos either do not completely separate or, if they do, are so close together that they fuse with each other (see Figure 11.3).
Major neonatal conditions
Published in Spencer W. Beasley, John Hutson, Mark Stringer, Sebastian K. King, Warwick J. Teague, Paediatric Surgical Diagnosis, 2018
Spencer W. Beasley, John Hutson, Mark Stringer, Sebastian K. King, Warwick J. Teague
Conjoined twins are rare, occurring in about one in 50,000100,000 births. They are understood to be caused by early division of the inner cell mass during embryogenesis, which forms two identical, but attached, fetuses. The classification of conjoined twins relates to the site of attachment, the commonest variety being thoraco-omphalopagus, where the attachment is along the sternum and upper abdomen. Pygopagus twins, in which the pelvis of each infant is the site of connection, occur in about 20% of instances. Conjoined twins connected by the head (craniopagus) occur in only 5% of instances. Conjoined twins require detailed and careful investigation to determine the exact anatomical and functional status of each twin. Xiphopagus twins, joined around the xiphisternum and epigastrium, often share a fused liver, but this is one of the most favourable types for separation. Surgery is best deferred until detailed imaging has been performed and an opportunity to observe function of the various organs. The ultimate aim of surgery is to separate the twins to produce two live, separate infants. Sometimes, unequal distribution of organs does not allow equal separation. In addition, in some instances of conjoined twinning, the development of each twin is not symmetrical, so that one twin is much larger than the other. In its more extreme form, this may present at birth with the appearance of a parasitic, dysmorphic twin attached to the external surface of the otherwise normal twin.
Antenatal diagnosis of thoracopagus conjoined twins with single heart and liver: a case report
Published in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2020
Conjoined twins are one of the rarest forms of twin pregnancy. The incidence of conjoined twins is seen in the range of 1:50,000–1:100,000 live births (Nahar et al. 2015). Although the pathogenesis of this malformation is not clear, monozygotic twin pregnancies are thought to be caused by the aberrant division of a single zygote (fission theory) after 13–15 days of the embryonic period. However, this thought cannot explain all types of conjoined twin pregnancies and it has started to be accepted that conjoined twin pregnancies are caused by the secondary association of two separate monoovulatuar embryonic discs (fusion theory) (Spencer 2000).
Conjoined twins—early prenatal diagnosis
Published in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2020
Nicolae Gica, Nicoleta Gana, Corina Mat, Anca Maria Panaitescu, Gheorghe Peltecu, Ana Maria Vayna
Conjoined twins represent a high-risk pregnancy for mother and foetuses. Early termination of pregnancy is safer with less emotional impact for the couple. In the cases that opt for continuing the pregnancy, a prenatal and postnatal follow-up can be organised by a multidisciplinary team (Vayna et al. 2018).