fetal rights
Unborn legal protections
Fetal rights are legal protections extended to an unborn human, treating the fetus as having interests separate from the pregnant woman.
The concept appears in debates over abortion, substance use during pregnancy, and criminal charges for harming a fetus: The state passed fetal rights legislation allowing homicide charges when a pregnant woman is attacked.
The term is politically charged, with advocates framing it as protecting the unborn and critics arguing it undermines women's bodily autonomy.
- sanctity of lifePrinciple that existence is sacred
- Roe v. WadeAbortion legalization ruling
- constitutional lawLegal principles from founding documents
- personhoodStatus as a person
- quickeningFirst felt fetal movement
life begins at conception · heartbeat bill · embryo · in utero · human dignity · gestational age · pro-life · bioethics · pro-choice movement · late-term abortion · pro-life movement · pregnancy · prenatal care · womb · anti-abortion · parental consent · born alive · prenatal
- pregnancypregnancy, pregnant, prenatal care, due date, weeks
fetal rightsmaternal rights
Mother's legal entitlements
bodily autonomy · reproductive autonomy · women's rights · self-determination · reproductive freedom
fetal rightsabortion rights
Freedom to terminate pregnancy
reproductive rights · pro-choice · reproductive freedom · abortion access · reproductive justice