1. Callahan D: The beginning of human life: philosophical considerations.In What Is a Person?, MF Goodman (ed). Clifton, NJ, Humana Press, 1988, p 35
2. President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Defining death: a report on the medical, legal, and ethical issues in the determination of death. Washington DC, Government Printing Office, 1981. When the definition of death was reevaluated, the concept of brain death came to replace the “breathing” definition of death. In Japan, where the brain-death definition has not been implemented, there is also no organ donation. Death in Japan is considered to be a social or cultural event rather than an individual death. The difference in attitudes toward death may explain why abortion is available and acceptable in Japan. Beller FK, Zlatnik GP: The beginning of human life: medical observations and ethical reflections. Clin Obstet Gynecol 1992;35:720–728
3. It is likely that early Jews adopted this view, which may also be reflected in the more liberal view of some modern Jews despite the Orthodox condemnation of abortion. See Connery JR Jr.: The ancients and medievals on abortion.In Abortion and Constitution, DJ Horan, ER Grant, PC Cunningham (eds). Washington DC, Georgetown University Press, 1987, p 124
4. Becker LC: Human being: The boundaries of the concept.In What Is a Person?, MF Goodman (ed). Clifton NJ, Humana Press, 1988, p 10
5. Roe v Wade 1973; 410 US 113. Reiter RC, Johnson SR, Beller FK: Abortion: is there a rational concept? Obstet Gynecol 1991;78:464–467. It must be stressed in this context that any time designations in pregnancy without reference to the first day of the last menstrual period (pm) or conception (pc) are misleading, since 2 weeks more or lessin utero may decide the prognosis for a given fetus. More than half the abortion laws in the United States do not make this distinction (Beller FK, De Prosse CA: The confusion of trimester and viability and the consequences for the abortion laws in the USA. J Repro Med 1992;37:537–540) nor, notably, do many studies in the pediatrics literature.