title: Defining life: the ethical context for human quality questions.
abstract: The links between ethics, medicine and the law cannot readily produce appropriate criteria for human quality questions, largely because ethics are misconstrued where they are not excluded; but also because the science at issue is full of unknowns. The paper surveys issues in eugenics, abortion and euthanasia.
authors.affiliation: Brett-Crowther Environmental Consultants, Gloucester, England.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Brett-Crowther
mesh_terms: D000025:Abortion, Eugenic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002648:Child; D002835:Christianity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005053:Eugenics; D028601:Euthanasia, Active / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011155:Population Control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011788:Quality of Life; D044469:Racial Groups; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012923:Social Class; D013245:Sterilization, Reproductive / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006113:United Kingdom; D015974:Wrongful Life