Not-Quite-Dead: Ontological Careographies and the Ambiguous Fetal Body in the Context of Disability-Selective Pregnancy Termination in Austria.

Abstract

Starting from the unsettling ambiguity of the aborted but not-quite-dead fetus, I scrutinize how clinical staff interpret, decide on, and grapple with fetal life signs following disability-selective pregnancy terminations in Austria. Understanding their practices as attempts to provide certainty in a context of ontological and moral uncertainty, I conceptualize them as acts of care that contribute to an intricate "ontological careography" and facilitate classifying the not-quite-dead as an already-dead fetus. I show that the interpretation of life signs is not a simple matter of biological "facts" - what is ultimately at stake is the active making of life and death.