Throughout American history, medical and legal definitions of human viability have evolved on interrelated but slightly different trajectories. In the early 19th century, although common law did not consider abortion to be a criminal offense, it was discouraged after the onset of quickening, which connected the initial delineation of viability to the sensation of fetal movement within the womb. When post–Civil War physicians campaigned to outlaw abortion, it was transformed into a criminal act, because societal attitudes had redefined human life as beginning at conception.1
In 1935, the American Academy of Pediatrics defined a premature infant as one who weighed <2500 g at birth regardless of gestational age,2 a standard first adopted in Europe in 1919.3 Although no minimum weight for viability was established, 1250 g was frequently used and corresponded to an estimated gestational age (EGA) of 28 weeks.2,4 In the mid-20th century,...
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