Providing care to pregnant cancer patients is complex as they present healthcare needs and decisional dilemmas that encompass distinct and often overlapping dimensions [1]. Looking after these patients raises not only clinical challenges, such as choosing the most suitable treatment regiment, time of delivery and breastfeeding support following the birth of an infant, but also many concerns and decisional challenges for the patients [2] and ethical challenges for the clinical teams [3].

Treatment choices are challenging as the evidence derived from prospective clinical trials is scarce due to study design and participant recruitment difficulties in this setting. Even though it is known that pregnancy does not impair the clinical outcomes of patients who have undergone curative treatment for some cancers [4,5], less data are available regarding its impact on those with advanced cancers which require multimodal treatment protocols [1,6]. Moreover, some cancers might be more difficult to manage during pregnancy and some treatments may be not feasible during pregnancy. For example, uterine cancer poses the challenge that the organ affected by cancer is also the one bearing the pregnancy [7,8] and chemotherapy given during the first trimester may be associated with a higher rate of foetal malformations and pregnancy complications [9]. Therefore, treatment decisions always need to be informed by the gestational age of the foetus as well as the site, stage and biological features of the tumour (Table 1). Recent recommendations suggest that radiotherapy is technically feasible during pregnancy, specifically for tumours that are remote to the foetus, such as breast and head and neck cancer [10]. Immunotherapies and targeted agents are usually contraindicated in pregnancy with some reports of congenital hypothyroidism [11] or severe immune-mediated enteritis [12] following in utero exposure to anti-PD1. On the contrary, other reports present positive maternal outcomes after immunotherapy exposure [13,14,15]. Further reviews also suggest that targeted therapies (e.g., trastuzumab) in the first trimester are less likely to lead to complications [16], and their use during pregnancy might be possible under close monitoring [17], but the risk of pregnancy and foetal complications remains high [18]. Thus, standard treatments cannot be always given to pregnant cancer patients, reinforcing the difficulty of managing such patients.

The decision-making process in this setting is also challenging for patients and often raises ethical dilemmas. Patients might need support with attending hospital appointments and enduring treatment procedures, while at the same time preparing for the arrival of the new family member and taking care of an infant. An extra layer of complexity stems from the idiosyncratic nature of this condition, as the patient herself is not the only player involved or affected (Figure 1). Ethical questions raised by the healthcare team, patients and/or their families are not always the same and might be conflicting, such as when one party does not feel comfortable with care decisions that are either taken or desired by another party involved [33,34]. For these reasons, taking care of pregnant cancer patients requires a multidisciplinary clinical team that should also include decisional counsellors [35,36], psychologists and ethicists [37], in addition to the oncological core medical team [1,38,39,40].

2. Ethical Models Applicable to Cancer Care during Pregnancy

There are many ethical guidance models that can be applied to cancer care during pregnancy. However, none of them appear to adequately address all ethical issues arising in these circumstances. Four biomedical ethics principles developed by Beauchamp and Childress [42] and the European principles in bioethics and biolaw [43,44] were used as a starting point (Table 2). Since caring for pregnant cancer patients also requires consideration of the patient’s relationships—including the patient’s perceived relationship with the foetus, partner, other children (if present), parents, relatives, friends and wider community, as well as ethno-socio-cultural and political environment [34]—elements of ethics of care [45,46], relational ethics [47,48] and medical maternalism [49,50] were also considered. These relational, patient-focused approaches were used as adjuncts to specify the principles-based guidance and to illustrate how the proposed theoretical framework (Figure 21) and subsequent ethics checklist (Table 3) can work in already existing healthcare structures by supplementing rather than challenging already established patient care processes and services.

2.1. Principle-Based Approaches

Classical biomedical ethics principles (respect for patient’s autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice) developed by Beauchamp and Childress [51], also known as the Georgetown principles, are both directly and indirectly referenced by clinical practice guidelines for cancer treatment during pregnancy [39]. The European approach to biomedical ethics offers autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerably as core guiding principles, which are to be considered in the broader context where a patient is seen as being part of a wider human ecosystem [44]. Therefore, respect for patients’ autonomy, which requires due attention to be given to the individual patient’s views and wishes (as well as their participation in decision making) is not limited to the patient alone. Beauchamp and Childress recognise that following the respect for autonomy principle without considering the context is problematic because patients do not live in isolation and out of context. Their treatment choices might affect other people in their lives, and the patient’s choices can also be influenced or even directed by people that pregnant cancer patient considers significant [42]. Therefore, in addition to autonomy, it is suggested that in the European context, dignity should further support the moral responsibility to human life [44], which is perceived broadly. It is not intended to escalate disagreements on how and whether the life of the unborn should be protected. Dignity, together with bodily integrity, overarch classical nonmaleficence and beneficence principles proposed by Beauchamp and Childress. Moreover, vulnerability (or respect for vulnerability) has been emerging as a wider recognised principle in biomedical ethics [52,53], which could be distinguished either as a requirement to protect vulnerable groups [54] or as merging with other principles, such as the principles of nonmaleficence, autonomy, dignity and bodily integrity [55]. Some authors also mention “vulnerability to co-creation”, especially in contexts surrounding the reproductive decisions, parental roles and dependent status of women [56], where their personal identity is mirrored through their relationships with others [57,58]. Principles on their own, however, can be too rational and too rigid for addressing ethical issues in everyday clinical practice [59] as—for example—is the doctrine/rule of double effect referenced by Beauchamp and Childress in regards to maternal–foetal conflict [42]. Maternal–foetal conflict is sometimes presented as deliberate harm to the developing foetus caused by its mother’s ignorance or unwillingness to adhere to standard pregnancy care [60], which is not necessarily the case when cancer is diagnosed during pregnancy. Principles can also fall in a conflict with each other, especially respect for patients’ autonomy and clinicians’ beneficence obligations [51]. Moreover, the principled approach has been shown to be less culturally neutral than it might initially appear, especially in a non-Judeo–Christian context [61]. Therefore, principle-based models need to be supplemented with other ethical models in order to address the ethical and patient-centred care needs. Some attempts have been made to blend principle-based approaches with casuistry when resolving clinical cases [62], which has been shown to be a valuable addition to technological decisional support tools aimed at patient-centred healthcare [63].

2.2. Relational, Patient-Focused Approaches

Shared decision making and care of pregnant cancer patients can be a very intense, emotional and psychologically demanding task for the healthcare team. It might challenge clinical teams’ attitudes towards the patient, their circumstances and even relationship with the patient. Indeed, the pregnant cancer patient’s relationship with the clinical team is of pivotal importance, requiring recognition of the patient’s unique situation; understanding of their individual circumstances; and empathy with their clinical, moral and practical concerns. Relational ethics can support clinicians with a patient-centred approach to patients by guiding the relationships toward empathy, attempting to understand patients’ emotions and reasoning [47]. The ethics of care further specify that compassion, presence, empathy and recognition of a patient as a fellow human being play a significant role in building trusted relationships between healthcare professionals and their patients [64], which is regarded with high importance in midwifery [46]. Medical maternalism is one more patient-focused approach emerging in contemporary bioethics [50]. It considers patients’ autonomy in a relational context and encourages patient support by the clinical team, where patients are provided correct, up-to-date and easy to understand information in order to guide them through the decision-making process with their best interests in mind. Caring for pregnant cancer patients can have further relational and care obligation complexities. Some healthcare professionals might feel an obligation to protect the developing foetus and might consider it a separate patient [65,66]. Such protection, however, can only be achieved if pregnant patients perceive foetal interests the same way as the clinical team does and are willing to collaborate with the clinicians. Some jurisdictions might have legal frameworks governing pregnancy care and restricting pregnancy termination. A recent example from the United States in the Dobbs vs. Jackson case shows that cancer treatment options might be restricted for pregnant patients [38