Viability means in general "capacity for survival" and is more specifically used to mean a capacity for living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions. Other examples:
In the context of pregnancy, viability refers to either:
an early stage pregnancy that has a chance of reaching full-term and a live birth (as opposed to, for example, an ectopic pregnancy); or
the shortest length of pregnancy after which a child bornprematurely has a chance of survival. Generally, this ranges from 20-27 weeks.
In an environmental conservation context, viability indicates the ability of a conservation target to persist for many generations or over long time periods.
In the context of natural selection, the fraction of individuals that survive to a given age.
In the context of economic development, viability indicates the ability of benefits to cover costs in development projects.
Pregnant woman at 26-week gestation A pregnant woman near the end of her term Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. ... Childbirth (also called labo(u)r, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... Premature birth (also known as preterm birth, or premie) is defined medically as childbirth occurring earlier than 37 completed weeks of gestation. ... In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex-+-periri, of (or from) trying), is a set of actions and observations, performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis or research concerning phenomena. ... Biology is the branch of science dealing with the study of life. ... Cells in culture, stained for keratin (red) and DNA (green). ... Biological tissue is any substance made up of cells that perform a similar function within an organism. ... Cells in culture, stained for keratin (red) and DNA (green). ... Biological tissue is any substance made up of cells that perform a similar function within an organism. ... Look up life, living in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Natural selection is the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
The Supreme Court ruled that states cannot put the interests of a fetus ahead of the interests of the pregnant woman until the fetus is "viable." The court defined viable to mean capable of prolonged life outside the mother's womb.
Because the point of viability varies, the court ruled, it could only be determined case by case and by the woman's own doctor.
The court said that state laws could require a woman and her doctor to perform tests to prove that a fetus is not viable before she obtains an abortion.
The legal definition of viability is "capable of independent existence." This definition is too broad; it covers many people to whom it was initially intended to refer.
Really by this definition viability isn't reached until at least the teenage years, and can be lost again through a coma, stroke, or other medical problem.
Viability has traditionally been used to determine the ethical justification of abortion, though this is wrong.
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