Reply #138: You misread my post

[kiahzero]

"Quality of life" is not referring to how good a life is. It is referring to the quality, for which the word life is used, of the presence of life.

Would it be acceptable for the mother, while carrying the just-born 22-week-old fetus to the NICU, to decide to remove its heart with a pair of scissors?

Well, that's an interesting question. Morally, it would be no different than aborting the same fetus if it were in her womb. It had been developing towards gaining the quality referred to as "life", and that process was cut short. However, you may be able to make the argument that she was practicing medicine without a license and should be punished. You may also be able to make the argument that the act was unethical, because the fetus may have felt pain (I am unsure as to at what point it is possible for a fetus to be in pain... I believe it is after the development of the cerebral cortex and hence after that point, but I'm not sure).

However, your extreme examples are not counter-examples - they are just calculated to produce revulsion. You might as well ask if it would be acceptable to perform an abortion by decapitating the fetus, eating it and bathing in its blood.