Do reproductive rights fail women in childbirth?: The limits of reproductive rights in birth cases

Courts have used Roe v. Wade as precedent to support forcing cesarean surgery on unwilling pregnant women. While instances of court-ordered childbirth intervention are extremely rare, a variety of sources suggest that the violation of women's rights during childbirth is a more common problem than reported legal cases indicate. Data suggests that such intervention may be targeted towards, and more often pursued against women from low-income and/or minority communities. This analysis gives examples of how various courts have applied (or misapplied) reproductive rights legal precedent to the detriment of birthing women's constitutional right to bodily integrity. The session will explain how courts have misapplied abortion-rights cases to extend the state's interest in fetal life to override the health care choices of birthing women. These cases demonstrate how women are diminished as individuals with equal civil and human rights when courts supersede women's autonomy in maternity care decision making. Acknowledging the problem arising from these cases, the speaker will discuss the limits of the reproductive rights framework and analyze the usefulness of the reproductive justice framework for creating healthy communities for pregnant and birthing women.