The crux of the debate in the abortion controversy is the status of the fetus, not the techniques used. Even if we assume that the fetus can be considered a living person at the gestational age at which this procedure is being used for that patient, medicine has established procedures for dealing with situations in which the welfare of two (or more) living beings is in conflict. Such conflicts, while rare, do occur in the case of certain types of conjoined twins and of certain complications involving multiple fetus pregnancies, for example. Medicine has been granted the power to make such life-and-death decisions, and it has the guidelines and experience to make such decisions, and there are well known and well-established consequences when physicians move outside those guidelines to the detriment of one of the involved patients.