Reproductive responsibilities: Rethinking the fetal rights debate

The fetal rights debate has grown increasingly vitriolic in recent years. The animosity between those who attribute rights to the fetus from the moment of conception and those who argue that the rights of citizens can bestowed only upon those who have been born has created an impasse in a range of important public policy arenas. This article attempts to demonstrate that neither side of this debate provides a satisfactory answer to the question of what limits the state may legitimately place on the medical and behavioral choices of pregnant women. To move beyond the impasse created by the intransigent rhetoric of competing rights, this essay explores the related responsibilities of the expectant mother, the emergent family, and a liberal democratic state. It also applies this conception of reproductive responsibilities to policy issues pertaining to privacy, abortion, regulation of fertile women, and state intervention into parental decision-making.