Last night I was watching an animal show that was discussing animals in labor and some problems that arise from that labor. It got me thinking about the termination of pregnancy in non-humans.
Do any other species besides humans get abortions? It might seem far-fetched, but let’s assume that it was known that a certain animal (dog for arguments sake) would die during labor or if pregnant. Are there any situations that would make it necessary for such animal to have their pregnancy terminated?
Has it ever happened?
This questions might be IMHO, but would those the anti-abortion groups be against animals getting abortions in the same way they are against humans doing the same?
A friend of mine had her cat’s pregnancy terminated, and had her fixed at the same time. (She was sort of a “found” cat), so yes, animals can get abortions.
I have no idea what pro life groups would think about that. FWIW, the girlfriend that did this was pro life herself (although not in a hard core, protesting at clinics sort of way) and she wasn’t too bothered by the kitty abortion.
Probably not; the religious argument against abortion is generally founded on the notion that human life, or ensoulment, or something, begins at conception, and people espousing this view do not generally consider animals either to have souls, or to have life in the same sense that humans do.
There is a possible animal rights argument against it, but I suspect that would just describe the termination as an unacceptable act of cruelty and would in fact be arguing against human exploitation of animals, rather than the specific act of termination.
BTW, there are animals that can terminate their own pregnancies if the need arises; some marsupials can reabsorb or ‘put on hold’ a fetus in times of stress or famine. It is worth noting though that many marsupials are not much more than embryos when they are born, and they continue to develop in the mother’s pouch.
When I worked for our local humane society, this came up fairly often: you can spay a pregnant cat (and, I think, a pregnant dog), and in so doing terminate their pregnancy. I’m guessing you could terminate the pregnancy without spaying the animal, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing so.
And yes, we had a few people refuse to have their pregnant cat spayed because they were pro-life–and this was despite their knowing that we would have to euthanize the kittens once they were born. People aren’t always rational.
Really? So they were pro-life and with the mindset in being anti-abortion, they would not allow their kittens to be spayed, but would allow the kittens to be ‘murdered’ upon birth?
Go figure. We also had a guy refuse to get his dog neutered because of a religious objection; he said it went against the Bible. Never was able to figure that one out, either.
There are medications (shots of hormones, I believe) that a vet can give to end a pregnancy, during certain parts of the pregnancy. They are available for both horses and dogs, that I know of – possibly other species.
I know of a case where they were used them for an older mare that had a stroke, and the vet recommended that she not go thru the stress of another pregnancy.
But the most commonly use is in the case of an ‘accidental’ conception, usually where a well-bred, valueable animal got bred by a much poorer quality animal. Not wanting to lose a year of pregnancy andget mixed-breed produce, the breeder will terminate this accidental pregnancy so the animal comes back into heat and can be bred again.
But they are expensive, and involve some risk to the animal. So they are not used often – generally only for very high quality animals.
In the case of the mare with a stroke, a few years later, the same vet came out and, with the owner standing holding the mare, gave her a shot to end her life. If that is within the vets’ and the owners’ ethics (and I certainly believe it is), why would terminating a pregnancy have any ethical barriers?
They are animals, not humans. Most of them eventually end up as someones’ meal.
The pro-life point of view that I know place humans ‘higher’ then animal life, which leaves us to decide for them (within our power to do that), so it’s not a prolife issue. Now if you talk to a animal rights person I would expect a different answer.
It has traditionally been interpreted to mean that you shouldn’t castrate any animals, whether or not you’re planning to sacrifice them. That kind of interpretation isn’t uncommon in rabbinic Judaism- the list of kosher animals that you’re allowed to eat, for example, is the same as the list of animals that can be offered as sacrifices.
What the rabbis who decided on the interpretation were doing, as far as I can tell, was looking at the text and trying to figure out why God might not want us to sacrifice a neutered animal. They came to the conclusion that it was either because damaging an animal’s testicles is cruel to the animal, or because God intended all animals to be fruitful and multiply, which a neutered animal obviously can’t do. Either of those interpretations imply that you shouldn’t neuter any animal, not just the ones you plan to sacrifice.
Although, if you hold to the first interpretation, you could say that neutering animals in the way they did it back then was cruel, but modern surgical methods with anesthetic aren’t, so it’s OK to neuter animals now that the animal won’t suffer so much (I would agree with that interpretation).
Is that actually true? I thought the list of animals suitable for sacrifice was a subset of those permitted for eating. Are fish suitable for sacrifice? Locusts?
I am not declaring, I am simply asking. Personally I do not have any convictions for or against animal abortion. I was not even aware animals could or were able to terminate pregnancy (or have their pregnancy ended by a third-party).
I know a woman who had to be talked into an abortion for her horse by her vet. Her mare was carrying twins. Horses aren’t built to safely carry twins, so the resulting foals rarely survive. The vet wanted to selectively abort one fetus in hopes that the other would survive.
This woman really wanted to give both fetuses a chance, but the vet did persuade her in the end. I’m not sure if it was a pro life thing with her (she had no trouble eating meat or wearing leather, so I doubt she felt that animals have the same right to life as humans). She just didn’t understand the risks. Unfortunately, the mare lost the remaining fetus not much longer after that.
I shouldn’t have said “unfortunately” becuase this woman really had no business breeding horses. Her mare wasn’t all that special and she didn’t have any clue what she was doing. Sad as it was, it worked out for the best.
Twice I’ve had female dogs that were in heat get out and get bred by mistake. All you have to do is take the dog to your vet, explain the situation, and get the dog a shot that aborts her. There’s no issue at all.
The Vet will also tell you how many days will pass before the dog returns to heat, so you can be prepared to keep her safely confined. As far as I can tell, this is routine and available to any pet owner whose pet gets pregnant by accident.
If a bull breaks out of confinment and breeds a cow out of season it’s the same deal. Pen the cow, call the vet and he’ll come by and give the cow a shot to abort her. I’ve done this as well. Again, there’s no issue.
The only justification you need is that you don’t want your animal to have an offspring by that particular parent or at that particular time.
It might just apply to birds and mammals. I’m not really an expert on what’s permissible to sacrifice and what’s not- they tend to de-emphasize that sort of thing in conversion-to-Judaism classes these days.