Policy Issue: Reproductive Rights

                The thing that I want to focus on primarily is a woman’s right to her own body.  How far does this go?  When a woman is pregnant and has decided to keep the baby, does the baby not have equal rights?  Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez explore this in their article, “Forcing Pregnant Women to do as They’re Told: Maternal vs. Fetal Rights.”  In this article, they provide the example of a woman named Janet who refuses to stop drinking during her pregnancy.  The article states,

Those who support forced treatment of pregnant women agree that every person has a right to freedom of choice.  But when a woman decides to carry her pregnancy to term, we can expect a child will be born, and this future child has a right to be protected from avoidable harm.  Certain behaviors during pregnancy are known to cause harm to offspring.  […]  Heavy alcohol use can cause mental retardation and physical malformations.  Altering one’s diet or refraining from alcohol or drugs presents no serious risk to a pregnant woman’s life or health.  When a pregnant woman who has decided to give birth to a child engages in activities that she could reasonably avoid and that will damage that child, society has a duty to protect the future child, even if this means forcing the pregnant woman to change her behavior.  (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n2/pregnant.html)

                So does a woman who actively chooses to carry out her pregnancy, have the right to do as she pleases regardless of any damage her behavior may do to the unborn child?  No, I do not think she does.  When a woman harms another human being, she will be punished.  When a woman harms a helpless child due to selfish wants, she should be punished.  Alcohol and drug use have negative effects on a person’s body; they can also kill or seriously injure an unborn child.  In my eyes, that is not justifiable.  A child entails responsibility; that responsibility begins in the womb when the mother makes the choice to keep the child.  If a woman is not responsible enough to take care of a child, she should not have one.  I am not by any means suggesting that a woman should sacrifice her own life to save an unborn child, but if a woman is behaving recklessly and wants to keep the child, I feel that forced treatment is acceptable.