Right to Life Means No Right to Death with Dignity

The seeds of the anti-abortion success realised by Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization were planted decades ago by earlier judgments designed to limit access to legal terminations and by state legislatures inserting foetal personhood rights into laws and regulations not directly related to abortion. Adoption by 36 US states of ‘pregnancy exclusion clauses’ in advance directives is one such example where a pregnant person’s agency and advance decision-making can be overruled to ensure the development of a gestating foetus. This paper explains current legal frameworks. It notes that nations not recognising foetal legal personhood need to be mindful of attempts taken to weaken autonomous decision-making and of utilitarian arguments advocating for foetal preservation based on a limited number of successful maternal life-support studies. The fact that a braindead, PVS or comatose pregnant woman has no conscious awareness does not give clinicians, or anyone else, licence to perform unwanted medical procedures irrespective of supposed treatment benefits accruing to a foetus. To do so undermines the very foundation of ethical health care.