Abstract
This chapter highlights scientific, philosophical, and historical research on reproductive rights. Six additions in the new, updated Constitution form the best conclusions—ethically and scientifically—on the issues comprising reproductive rights. It is argued that a woman’s freedom to abort a fetus is a universal right. The U. S. Supreme Court majority opinion, in Dobbs versus Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned the long-standing Roe versus Wade in what is certainly the worst example of judicial reasoning that you could imagine: Fallacious arguments, ignorance of the findings of science in regard to fetal development, and the health of women who have had abortions. The Court apparently is satisfied with women living in a world of coat hangers, arsenic, and midnight motel meetings with sleazy, untrained men.
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Notes
- 1.
Live Science. May 17, 2016. Sarah G. Miller, “Do Fetuses Feel Pain? What the Science Says.” Access at: https://www.livescience.com/54774-fetal-pain-anesthesia.html Also, FactCheck.org., May 18, 2015. David Levitan, “Does a Fetus Feel Pain at 20 Weeks?” Access at: https://www.factcheck.org/2015/05/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/
- 2.
Sarah Miller, Live Science.
- 3.
Quoted by Miller, Live Science.
- 4.
Quoted by Miller, Live Science.
- 5.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, March 2010, “Fetal Awareness Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice” Access at: “Fetal Awareness Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice” Access at: https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/xujjh2hj/rcogfetalawarenesswpr0610.pdf
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Medical News Today, “What and when can a fetus hear?” Access at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324464
- 8.
Chris Meyers, The Fetal Position, A Rational Approach to the Abortion Issue (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2010), 189.
- 9.
National Library of Medicine, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Care Services; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Committee on Reproductive Health Services: “Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the U.S.” Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2018 Mar 16. Access at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507237/
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
National Library of Medicine, “Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the U.S.” Complete book in PDF, Access at: http://nap.edu/24950
- 12.
Ibid.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
University of California San Francisco, “Aspiration versus Medication Abortion.” Access at: https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/aspiration-versus-medication-abortion
- 17.
William James, The Principles of Psychology, Volume One, 202 and 314.
- 18.
Pew Research Center, Jeff Diamant and Besheer Mohamed, “What the data says about abortion in the U.S.” Access at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/24/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s-2/ The Guttmacher Institute, “United State Abortion.” Access at: https://www.guttmacher.org/united-states/abortion
- 19.
Pew Research Center.
- 20.
Guttmacher Institute.
- 21.
Louisiana State Legislature, RS 4061. It asserts that “the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for purposes of the unborn child’s right to life and is entitled to the right to life from conception” Access at: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=965022
- 22.
If you had two human beings in a room, and one fertilized human egg, how many human beings are in the room? The answer of course is that there are two human beings in the room and one fertilized egg, not three human beings.
- 23.
Dobbs et al versus Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392 597 U. S. (2022). Access at: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
- 24.
Pew Research Center. Hannah Hartig, “About six-in-ten Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.” Access at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/13/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases-2/
- 25.
Dobbs versus Jackson.
- 26.
Kurt Baier comments that society “may indeed have adequate reason to force mothers to bear this burden if there is a danger of depopulation because of a widespread unwillingness of mothers to procreate. I believe it fair to say that nowhere on earth today is there such a danger. On the contrary, the rate of population increase is such—doubling every forty years at the present rate—that we may well be condemning our offspring to life in increasingly undesirable conditions. “When Does A Right to Life Begin?” Nomos, 1981, Vol. 23, “HUMAN RIGHTS” (1981), pp. 201–229.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
Joel Feinberg, “Is There a Right to Be Born?” in his Rights, Justice, and the Bounds of Liberty (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1980).
- 29.
Ibid., 216. My italics.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
Inquirer.net Cristina Eloisa Baclig, “EXPLAINER: Your body, your choice: Why is bodily autonomy so important?” Access at: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1434418/explainer-your-body-your-choice-why-is-bodily-autonomy-so-important See State of World Population Report, “My Body Is My Own Claiming the Right to Autonomy and Self-Determination.” 164 pages, April 2021.
- 32.
United Nations Population Fund, June 29, 2022. “Neglected crisis of unintended pregnancies has lifelong impact, costs health systems billions” Access at: https://esaro.unfpa.org/en/news/neglected-crisis-unintended-pregnancies-has-lifelong-impact-costs-health-systems-billions
- 33.
Amnesty International, “Key Facts About Abortion.” Access at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/abortion-facts/
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
Ibid.
- 36.
World Health Organization, “Abortion.” Access at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/abortion#tab=tab_1
- 37.
Judith Jarvis Thomson, “In Defense of Abortion,” Philosophy & Public Affairs, 1.1 (1971): 47–66.
- 38.
See Chris Meyers, The Moral Defense of Homosexuality: Why Every Argument against Gay Rights Fails Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015.
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DeArmey, M.H. (2023). Bill of Rights III: Reproductive Rights and Sexual Non-discrimination. In: The Constitution of the United States Revised and Updated. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40426-9_10
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