Rights of the unborn

To continue the series on reproductive rights, I'll consider the coming debate on the rights of the unborn. This particular debate has its start around the time that medical science was able to reliably abort a pregnancy. If life begins at conception, then the mother has a duty to bring that life to term and into the world. If life begins much later, then the mother may terminate a pregnancy that would put an undue burden upon her.

Over the last two decades more and more laws relating to the rights of the unborn have passed. A common one allows the prosecution of a murder or manslaughter charge for the deliberate killing of a fetus through violence towards the mother, which can lead to a doubling of sentencing in the case of a murdered woman who was discovered to be pregnant at the time. Though some have been concerned that such laws could be interpreted to penalize abortion practitioners, all such have either an exception for voluntary termination or other safeguards.

Another such law is one that I find much more concerning. Though the details vary, the laws generally read something like this:

1. IF a woman is discovered to be pregnant, and
2. IF that woman is receiving medical care, and
3. IF that woman has filed the medical documentation required for either a Do Not resuscitate order, or otherwise made her wishes clear that she is not to be kept on life-support if there is no hope of recovery, and
4. IF she is temporarily receiving such medical care
5. THEN the State may lawfully override her stated wishes in order to bring the fetus to term and mandate that such intrusive and expensive supportive care be given until such time as the baby is delivered or dies of normal means.

It allows the State to override the previously clearly stated wishes of the woman in cases where the woman herself is not able to make her own wishes clear at that moment. Even if the entire family wants to follow her wishes, the State may override this preference for the public good.

Recently there was news of a rather disturbing nature relating to the rights of the unborn. A woman, albeit developmentally disabled, was pregnant with twins. In the ninth month of pregnancy, her doctor informed her that it looked like one of the fetuses was under stress and strongly recommended a C-section to save both. The woman refused to undergo the surgery. When she delivered a week or two later, one of the two children was dead on delivery. The doctor attempted to bring forth a criminal charge of negligence against the woman. The woman was, by all accounts, not so hot on decision making. But she WAS an adult, capable of making adult-like decisions.

The big problem that case brought up is to underline the potential legal liability the mother has towards doing healthy things for her growing fetus. Alcohol consumption has been known for some time now to have some potentially nasty side-effects for an assembling child, and all pregnant women are notified that they need to stop drinking. I personally do not know of any lawsuits related to a pregnant woman's lack of care towards her growing fetus, but it is a fear I hold. At some point there will be a case that gets splashed on the front pages of news sites everywhere relating to exactly that sort of thing.

Culture already does put pressure on pregnant women to Do It Right when it comes to helping an embryo grow with the least chances of problems. How is your folic acid intake? Are you sure all of your medicines are OK for pregnant ladies to take? What sort of nutritional regimen are you following? How long are you planning on breastfeeding? And when culture starts putting pressure on things, laws are a lot easier to pass that mandate such things. This could get more and more complicated the more we learn about how the things we do to our bodies affect a developing fetus.

I do not believe that women should be held legally accountable for the lack of care they supplied to the life growing in their bodies. To someone who does not wish the pregnancy in the first place, the whole progress can seem like an ever larger parasite growing in your own body; a feeling that women have had to be mentally prepared for until the advent of the medical abortion. A kid should not be able to sue mom for pre-natal neglect.