A VERY DIFFICULT PREGNANCY

SHOULD A WOMAN IN A COMA, IMPREGNATED BY A RAPIST, BEAR THE CHILD?

IT IS AS IF A PARTICULARLY DIABOLICAL textbook problem for budding ethicists has been transposed to grim reality in upstate New York. In 1985 a highway accident smashed the promise of a 19-year-old Cornell University freshman, putting her into a coma-like state. Then in August someone at the Westfall Health Care Center in Brighton, N.Y., raped the helpless woman, a fact deduced last month when the woman, now 29, was found to be five months pregnant.

Police say they have several--unidentified--suspects; meanwhile, a Westfall aide stands accused in another sex-abuse case. The state Attorney General has dubbed the crime part of...

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