Should pregnant women be allowed total control over their bodies? Where do the unborn child's rights come into it?

[Bumperliouzzzzzz]

Just wondering. I've never read anything theoretical on the matter and am not completely sure where I stand. However I was talking to a colleague today (am 18 weeks pg) and was mentioning wine (I've actually only had 2 glasses so far this pg) and she said 'Oh I thought you weren't allowed to drink when pg?' and I started on a rant (well actually we had a discussion) about woman's rights during pregnancy. I was saying that it is my body and I can do what I like with it, though obviously I don't.

What say should/does a father have in the matter? If I do drink when pg DH gets a bit twitchy, and he won't let me dig in our allotment. Now I am happy to have the excuse not to really but I resent being told what to do. I take heed of my DH because I care about him and believe that he should have some say and he is just worried, but I don't want to be nagged about what I should/shouldn't be doing.

Should the unborn child's rights come first or is it a case of my body, my choice? I think I am mostly resentful of the fact that it is a bunch of men (usually) politicians, DP's who tell us what to do when they have no idea of the effects of being pregnant.

What are your thoughts?

gorionine

"By Ryoko Fri 23-Apr-10 18:39:25 "IMO it's my body and until it comes out it has about as much right to anything as a man's sperm."
I understand that as " I can do what I want during my pregnancy because as long as the baby is "in" it has no right"

By Ryoko Thu 29-Apr-10 13:02:17 "I wouldn't which is why I didn't, best to avoid any risk of miscarriage no matter how small if you can help it IMO."
Which maked me thing you do actually feel very respnsable for a baby you are carrying.

I find these two posts contradict each other, did I misunderstand them?"

Whats contradictory about it? I want the baby to come out fine and healthy but IMO until it's out it has no rights it's inside me I have the rights not the baby.

it has about as much rights over and above the mothers wishes as a egg does over a hen.

gori

the difference between an individual feeling responsibility for the baby they're carrying and granting rights to a gestating foetus is massive.

In your example you decided to quit smoking when you found out you were pregnant. I did the same.

If the embryos we were carrying had rights of the kind under discussion that would not have been a choice, and further, either of us could potentially have been prosecuted for smoking before we knew we were pregnant.

A foetus is wholly dependent for its existence on the body of a woman. Because of that dependence, you can't grant that foetus rights without significantly reducing the rights of the woman. You can't grant it personhood without treating the woman as less than a full person.

Say you want to give a foetus the same right to life as a born person: that right is in direct conflict with the right to life of the woman carrying it. If she were to develop a condition that necessitated a termination of the pregnancy as part of life-saving treatment, either you have to prioritise her right to life, or that of the foetus.

No way am I happy for being pregnant to mean that in a medical emergency it would be acceptable to choose the foetus over me.

Skidoodly: Bang on. Whiile it's fine for a PG woman to decide for herself to give things up or do certain things because she has decided that the risk to the foetus is unacceptable is one thing, for it to be the law that women must do or not do certain things for the benefit of a foetus is very different. It's got to be perfectly legal for pregnant women to drink three litres of vodka a day and go bungee jumping if they choose to because to say that it's not legal is to take away pregnant women's right to be human beings.

minipie i cannot comment on pregnancy that is forced on a woman as i have no experience of it and i would not want to patronise or insult anyone who has, by presuming to know how they should feel or behave.

my comments were strictly in relation to both my pregnancies and how i felt about them, not in anyway how i think any other woman should behave whilst pregnant.

neither of my pregnancies were planned but i do still believe that i made a choice to become pregnant when i had unprotected sex so therefore i assumed total responsibilty for sustaining that life for the first 9 months.

i also agree with the posters that say an unborn baby cannot be granted the same rights as a born person. if that were the case pregnancy rates would plummet.

Parasites thats all babies are, only reason why a man could not be implanted and carry one is because there is no where in a man that is a safe attachment point, we have a empty pouch for the thing to attach to and drain blood from.

I think all this rights for the unborn crap comes from the American religious fruit cakes who are every bit as mad as Al-Qaeda and should never be allowed any power of law anywhere.

I wonder how many crazy American religious women kill themselves after having a miscarriage or a still birth convinced they have don't something wrong and murdered a little person

Thank you Skidoodly and SGB, I now see better what you mean. I find that I could not, by choice, drink, take drugs (even legal ones if the label says not recommended for pregnant/BF women), bungee jump.. while pregnant but this indeed is a personal preference I would not really want legislation on the subject either.

In the case of my life or the one of my baby, I really hope I will never have to make that choice (by that I do not mean that I wish someone would make the choice for me but that I hope I will never be in a situation where I have to face that choice).

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I feel that when a woman decides to get pregnant, or makes the decision to continue a pregnancy, within that is an element of responsibility to do what is best for the developing baby, at least to a point. Something like not having a glass of wine seems, to me, to be a reasonable thing to do in light of that responsibility.

Of course there is a limit, and no woman should be expected, for example, to be at overt risk of harm due to the responsibility they have chosen, but minor things I feel are to be expected.

ZOMBIE THREAD

ZOMBIE THREAD

Just to drive the message home

Sorry

A 9 month old foetus IS a baby though. At least imo.

A foetus is growing towards personhood from the moment of conception, but I wouldn't describe a month-old foetus as a baby. That feels like a later stage.

(I'm pro choice)

ZOMBIEEEEEEEEE

RTFT PEOPLE!