STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 ¢ (415) 321-1200

STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Department of Genetics

Dear Sarge [shrwer ( JUN 7 19/2

Thank you for sending me the Zahn article on abortion. I am im-
pressed also by a forthright statement of 3 position, on the “absolute
right of every fertilized ovum to develop". He faces squarely a number
of issues, like the implication that even a victim of rape should be
denied an abortion, that are often glossed over by other anti-abortion
debaters. (But I would put these few cases in the same category as the
mentally defective infants: they test the rigor of one's propositions
if one demands an absolute framework. )

I do find it necessary however to bring your attention to some still
further implications of his position. 4s indicated in the attached draft
(and let me apologize further,its residuel polemical tone) I find it hard
to reconcile "olympian silence" sbout the negligent loss of fertilized
eggs (i.e. spontaneous abortions), however impaired, with the ebsolutist

position that the intentional termination of similar entities (to seg

In any event my mein purpose in responding to you is not an effort
at persuasion about ethical theory. It is to bring some biological
facts to your attention that have still to beincorporated into a
self-consistent theory in defense of ova.

Sincerely

Joshua Lederberg

LY. J. P. KENNEDY, JR. LABORATORIES FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE, DEDICATED TO RESEARCH IN MENTAL RETARDATION

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

HEREDITY NEUROBIOLOGY DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE