RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 When caesarean section operations imposed by a court are justified.
JF Journal of Medical Ethics
JO J Med Ethics
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 206
OP 211
DO 10.1136/jme.14.4.206
VO 14
IS 4
A1 Kluge, E H
YR 1988
UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/14/4/206.abstract
AB Court-ordered caesarean sections against the explicit wishes of the pregnant woman have been criticised as violations of the woman's fundamental right to autonomy and to the inviolability of the person--particularly, so it is argued, because the fetus in utero is not yet a person. This paper examines the logic of this position and argues that once the fetus has passed a certain stage of neurological development it is a person, and that then the whole issue becomes one of balancing of rights: the right-to-life of the fetal person against the right to autonomy and inviolability of the woman; and that the fetal right usually wins.