The Dead Unborn, Postmortem Privacy Cases, and Abortion Rights.

The privacy of the dead is an interesting area of concern for bioethicists. There is a legal doctrine that the dead can't have privacy rights, but also a body of contrary law ascribing privacy rights to the deceased and kin in relation to the deceased. As women's abortion privacy is under assault by American courts and legislatures, the implications of ascribing privacy rights to embryos and fetuses is more important than ever. Caution is called for in this domain.

The role of healthcare providers in expanding legal abortion: Qualitative insights from Argentina, Ireland, and South Korea.

Abortion laws are key in creating an enabling environment that facilitates the advancement of people's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Around 50 countries have liberalized their abortion laws in the last decades by adding new grounds allowing abortion. The road toward the expansion of legal abortion is a long, highly sensitive, and difficult process. The specific role of healthcare providers in influencing abortion law reforms has been scarcely studied. With the objective to better understand their (potential) roles, a qualitative study was conducted in 2021 focusing on three countries that had recently liberalized their abortion regulations: Argentina, South Korea, and Ireland. For each country, key informant interviews were conducted with actors in advocacy for legal change, the majority with healthcare providers. The study results indicate that healthcare providers can contribute to the expansion of legal abortion through their influence on public and legal debates. Healthcare providers were found to be scientifically credible and trustworthy. Their voice and argumentation counteracted anti-rights arguments and addressed information gaps, by providing specific clinical experiences and medical information. Healthcare providers amplified women's experiences through their testimonies and had entry points within governmental bodies, which facilitated their advocacy. These healthcare providers often functioned as individual operating obstetrician/gynecologists or general practitioners who were engaged in networks of health professionals or had previous advocacy experience. In a global context of social and political contention around abortion, extending the engagement of healthcare providers in law and policy deliberation on abortion appears to be useful. This requires recognizing the diversity of roles that healthcare providers can take up, creating a safe environment in which they can operate, equipping them with skills that go beyond the medical expert role and facilitating strategic partnerships that seek complementarity between multiple stakeholders, building on the uniqueness of each stakeholder's expertise.

A statement on abortion by 900 professors of obstetrics and gynecology after the reversal of Roe vWade.

In the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1972 and 2013, 100 leaders in obstetrics and gynecology wrote calls to action-in 1972 in anticipation of the Roe v Wade decision and in 2013 in concern over the increasing restrictions to abortion care. In this article, 900 professors support a call to action for reinstating federal protections for abortion. Over a year ago, the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision, overturning nearly 50 years of precedent in retracting the constitutionally protected right to abortion. The medical community is already seeing the harms of this decision on the lives and health of our patients and on the ability to train upcoming physicians in this medically necessary evidence-based care. Further harms are anticipated, including negative effects on maternal mortality. The 900 professors of obstetrics and gynecology whose signatures appear at the conclusion of this article stand together in support of reproductive freedom, including the right to affordable, accessible, safe, and legal abortion care.

The politics of abortion rights in the 2022 United States midterm election: Lessons for fledgling democracies around the world.

The United States government, under President Donald Trump, retreated from its traditional role as an exemplar of democracy, defender of press freedom and the rule of law but embraced conspiracy theories, virulent anti-Semites, and authoritarian regimes worldwide. Today, democracy is in crisis and is under assault and in retreat globally. The 2022 United States midterm election has come and is now history with many unexpected outcomes. The three impactful issues during the campaign that produced many upsets were abortion rights, election denialism, and threats to democracy. This editorial examines the history of abortion rights in the United States, the impacts of the Dobbs vs. Jackson ruling on the 2022 midterm election, the threats of election deniers to global democracy, the global status of reproductive health rights, and the lessons of abortion ban for burgeoning democracies worldwide.

Abortion Access and the Benefits and Limitations of Abortion-Permissive Legal Frameworks: Lessons from the United Kingdom.

This paper argues that abortion access is an important subject for bioethics scholarship and reflects on the relationship between legal frameworks and access to care. The author uses the example of the United Kingdom to examine the benefits and limitations of abortion-permissive legal frameworks in terms of access. These are legal frameworks that enable the provision of abortion but subject to restrictions. An abortion-permissive regime-first in Great Britain and then in Northern Ireland-has gone some way to improving access to care over time. However, aspects of the regime (that lead to its description as permissive rather than supportive of abortion) have the potential to endanger abortion access in the future and so legal reform is necessary.

State Courts, State Legislatures, and Setting Abortion Policy.

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court decided in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization (597 U.S. (2022)) to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, a seismic shift in abortion policy that makes the states key battlegrounds in fights over abortion and broader reproductive rights. This article focuses on the role of state supreme courts in setting state abortion policies. Using an original data set of state court decisions surrounding abortion from the past 20 years, the authors investigate how two overarching factors affect state supreme court decision-making on abortion. First, they track how states' political environments affect the decisions courts make about access to abortion. Second, the authors consider the scope of the abortion policy considered by the courts. The authors find that the partisan makeup of state legislatures does not influence the direction of state supreme courts' rulings on abortion issues, but it does affect the scope of abortion regulation being considered by the courts. Additionally, they find that elected judges tend to be more responsive to constituent preferences when ruling on abortion policies. Overall, these findings illustrate the multifaceted dynamics involved in state supreme courts' rulings on abortion.

Activism for Abortion Rights and Access Is Global: What the United States Can Learn from the Rest of the World.

While the US Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade guaranteed a legal right to abortion, universal access to legal abortion has never been achieved in the United States. At the same time, the Helms Amendment, a US foreign-assistance policy, is keeping millions of people around the world, particularly Black and Brown people, from receiving abortion-related information and services. As abortion-rights advocates in the United States look for ways to move forward in the post-Roe era, two sources can offer insights and inspiration: the inclusive, human rights-based reproductive justice framework, and some of the strategies and approaches being used to expand access in countries around the world with restrictive abortion laws.

The abortion divide: Exploring the role of exclusion, loss of significance and identity in the radicalization process.

Introduction: Recently, the abortion issue has entered the spotlight in the USA, leading to potential radical actions. As the majority opinion on the abortion issue vary with state, some individuals will be in the numerical minority within their state, possibly evoking feelings of exclusion. Social exclusion can motivate a radicalization process. The aim of this paper is to explore how individuals in a numerical minority experience feelings of exclusion and significance loss and how this may drive radicalization in the context of the abortion issue. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used and 534 respondents from naturally occurring numerical minority and majority groups based on state abortion opinion participated in an online survey. Results: Results showed that those in the numerical minority experienced exclusion and were more willing to engage in and endorse radical actions compared to those in the majority, regardless of position on the abortion issue. Serial mediation analysis revealed that the pathway between minority group status and engagement and endorsement of extreme actions was fully mediated by need-threat and ingroup identity. Discussion: Being in the numerical minority is associated with feelings of social exclusion, which may trigger a radicalization process. The results advance our understanding of when and who is vulnerable to radicalization and that social structures that perpetuate marginalization and inequality may contribute to radicalization. Results highlight the need to continue to explore radicalization from a group-based perspective and emphasize exploring mediating factors as a pathway from social experiences to willingness to engage with radical groups.

The Post-Roe Political Landscape Demands a Morality of Caution for Women's Health.

The recent Supreme Court decision (ie, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization), revoking the constitutional right to abortion in the United States, has the potential to dramatically disrupt progress in women's health research. The typical safeguards to ensure confidentiality and privacy of research participants in studies that collect certain types of personal health information may not hold against criminal investigations surrounding suspected pregnancy terminations. There are additional risks to participants in digital health research studies involving the use of wearable devices capable of tracking physiological measures, such as body temperature and heart rate, as these have shown promise for tracking conception and could be used to identify pregnancy termination signatures. There are strategies researchers can use to protect the safety of participants in health research who could get pregnant, while also maintaining integrity of research methods. The objective of this viewpoint is to discuss potential strategies to protect research participants' privacy that include the minimization of nonessential sensitive personal health information and anonymization protocols in the event of miscarriage or termination of pregnancy. We invite others to join this discussion so as to not let the current political landscape impede progress in women's health and reproductive research, while also protecting research participants.

The (Un)Ethical Womb: The Promises and Perils of Artificial Gestation.

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the changes that the implementation of artificial wombs would bring to society, the family, and the concept of motherhood and fatherhood through the lens of two recent books: Helen Sedgwick's The Growing Season and Rebecca Ann Smith's Baby X. Each of the two novels, set in a near future, follows the work of a scientist who develops artificial womb technology. Significantly, both women experience concerns about the technology and its long-term effects that make both of them leave their laboratories and rethink the technology they invented, while considering its many ethical implications. Both novels can be seen as feminist revisionary rewritings of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, rejecting the vision of rows of mass-produced, anonymous babies in artificial wombs, stressing instead the closeness of the parents to their offspring. They nevertheless critically evaluate not only the many potential benefits for women of ectogenetic technology but also the possible disadvantages and pitfalls.

The Legal Challenge of Abortion Stigma-and Government Restrictions on the Practice of Medicine.

During the 2016 election, Donald Trump won conservative support by promising that he would, if elected, nominate "pro-life" justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Whether President Trump makes good on his campaign promise to restrict abortion rights may come down to competing impulses of the chief justice, John Roberts. These dueling dispositions-from the man whom many see as the new "swing justice"-hold the key to a blockbuster new case that legal historians call "the most unpredictable the Supreme Court has been on abortion in decades." The case, June Medical Services v. Russo, turns on arduous new requirements that Louisiana has imposed on facilities and clinicians that provide abortion. But the case is not just about abortion access. The Court will have to decide whether a clinic has a right to challenge the law in the first place.

Direito ao aborto, gênero e a pesquisa jurídica em direitos fundamentais / Derecho al aborto, género y la investigación jurídica en derechos fundamentales / Abortion rights, gender and legal research on fundamental rights

Resumo A partir de um retrato da situação atual do abortamento inseguro e de uma breve reconstrução das lutas feministas pela descriminalização do aborto no Brasil, o trabalho discute o papel do constitucionalismo democrático no reconhecimento de novos sujeitos de direitos sexuais e reprodutivos. Recorremos ao fundamento político-filosófico dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos para apontar que sua regulamentação jurídica só tem validade se os "sujeitos de direitos" construídos e pressupostos por sua regulamentação não se prestarem à violação dos postulados fundamentais do constitucionalismo democrático. Tal violação ocorre quando as relações de inclusão e exclusão estabelecidas por seus contornos hipotéticos se prestam a negar reconhecimento institucional à plena dignidade de experiências identitárias dissidentes. Propomos a utilização da teoria de Rosenfeld em pesquisas sobre direito ao aborto sob a perspectiva do Direito Constitucional. Esta teoria permite ver como os discursos sobre direitos criam e enunciam seus sujeitos com marcas de gênero, e podem servir tanto à ampliação das liberdades como de formas de subordinação.

Resumen A partir de un retrato de la situación actual del aborto clandestino y de una breve reconstrucción de las luchas feministas por la despenalización del aborto en Brasil, este trabajo discute el rol del constitucionalismo democrático en el reconocimiento de nuevos sujetos de derechos sexuales y reproductivos. Recurrimos al fundamento político-filosófico de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos para sugerir que su reglamentación jurídica sólo puede tener validez si los "sujetos de derechos" construidos y presupuestos por dicha reglamentación no son utilizados como instrumento para la violación de los postulados fundamentales del constitucionalismo democrático. Esto ocurre cuando las relaciones de inclusión y exclusión establecidas por sus contornos hipotéticos sirven para negar reconocimiento institucional a la plena dignidad de experiencias de identidad disidentes. Sugerimos la utilización de la teoría de Rosenfeld en investigaciones sobre derecho al aborto bajo la perspectiva del derecho constitucional. Esta teoría permite mostrar cómo los discursos sobre derechos crean y enuncian sus sujetos con marcas de género y pueden servir tanto a la ampliación de las libertades como o a formas de subordinación.

Abstract After a brief portrayal of the situation of unsafe abortion in Brazil and the feminist struggles for the decriminalization of abortion, this paper discusses the role of democratic constitutionalism in the acknowledgment of new subjects of sexual and reproductive rights. I resort to the political and philosophical basis of sexual and reproductive rights to suggest that the legal regulation can only be considered valid if the "legal subjects" constructed and presupposed by those regulations do not violate the basic grounds of democratic constitutionalism. This happens whenever the relations of inclusion and exclusion posed by their hypothetical contours deny institutional acknowledgment for the experience dissident identities. I suggest the employment of Rosenfeld's theory for researching abortion rights on a constitutional perspective. This theory provides a tool to show how discourses about rights create and enunciate gendered subjects, and they may work to either expand freedom, or enhance forms of subordination.

Reproductive rights approach to reproductive health in developing countries.

BACKGROUND: Research on reproductive health in developing countries focuses mostly on the role of economic development on various components of reproductive health. Cross-sectional and empirical research studies in particular on the effects of non-economic factors such as reproductive rights remain few and far between. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the influence of two components of an empowerment strategy, gender equality, and reproductive rights on women's reproductive health in developing countries. The empowerment strategy for improving reproductive health is theoretically situated on a number of background factors such as economic and social development. DESIGN: Cross-national socioeconomic and demographic data from a number of international organizations on 142 developing countries are used to test a model of reproductive rights and reproductive health. RESULTS: The findings suggest that both economic and democratic development have significant positive effects on levels of gender equality. The level of social development plays a prominent role in promoting reproductive rights. It is found that reproductive rights channel the influences of social structural factors and gender equality on reproductive health.

Coalition for Abortion Rights v. Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.

KIE: The U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, prohibited a municipal transportation authority from denying advertising space on city buses to a group advocating a woman's right to reproductive choice. Denial of access to advertising space was a violation of the group's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, because it was the only advertising rejected on the basis of content, and other advertisements about religion, abortion, and politics had appeared on public buses in the past. Public buses were not intrinsically a public forum, but the transportation authority had created a public forum by permitting other forms of constitutionally protected speech.^ieng

The abortion activists.

PIP: Presents findings from a 1980 survey undertaken with the cooperation of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), conducted among 750 members of each organization (response rates were 63% among NARAL and 57% among NLRC members). NRLC members were found to be more likely to have come from large families, and to prefer and have large families. About 70% of NRLC members are Roman Catholic, compared to 4% of NARAL members and about 28% of the general population. 17% of NARAL members are Jewish, compared to almost no NRLC members and 2% for the general population. Protestants and blacks are relatively underrepresented in both organizations. 9 in 10 NRLC members report that religion is very important to them and that they attend services at least once a week, compared to 1 in 5 NARAL members. NRLC members are more likely to have experienced difficulties becoming pregnant, to have had a miscarriage and to have had an unplanned pregnancy. NARAL members are much more likely to have used birth control pills or to be surgically sterilized. Of those who had had an abortion, among the women surveyed, 94% had joined NARAL and only 6% had joined NRLC. High levels of fertility and fertility aspirations among NRLC members appear to reflect a generally conservative approach to personal morality. NRLC members are much more likely to oppose sex education in schools, and birth control information for teenagers, and to favor stricter public policy on divorce. They are also relatively more likely to be opposed to premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations, and contraceptive sterilization among married couples. The majority of NLRC members oppose the Equal Rights Ammendment; majority of NARAL supports it. The majority of members of both organizations support political, social and economic equality of women in other respects. Attitudes toward abortion were about as expected, although 7 in 10 NRLC members favored legal abortion if the woman's life would be endangered otherwise, and 4 in 10 NARAL members oppose abortion to prevent the birth of a child not of the desired sex. NRLC members are much more likely to be Republicans and describe themselves as conservative. But while more than 8 in 10 NRLC members would oppose a candidate they otherwise support if they disagreed with their abortion stand, fewer than 1/2 the NARAL members say they are 1 issue voters.^ieng