Reproductive Rights: Foetal Rights or Female Freedoms?

The article explores the tension between foetal rights and the gestational mother's rights, particularly the emergence of foetal rights cases in the laws of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the legal philosophical tensions in the maternal-foetal relationship, and the moral dilemmas of foetal rights. The interests of the unborn child are raised in cases involving court-ordered caesarean sections and the legal personhood of the foetus. It is argued that the relevant factors to take into account in resolving the conundrum between the survivorship of the foetus and the gestational mother include determining the sentient status of the foetus and the degree of harm inflicted on the woman to rescue the foetus.