The Dangerous Concept of Fetal Personhood
Fetal personhood, in short, labels a pregnancy as a person. It is the idea that anything a person is legally entitled to, a fetus is, as well. Karen Thompson, Legal Director at Pregnancy Justice and Garin Marschall, co-founder of Patient Forward, sit down to talk with us about viability, state involvement in pregnancies, and criminalization.
Fetal personhood tracks alongside viability, which is the point in a pregnancy’s gestation in which the government recognizes personhood. Since Roe, and long before, viability limits became enshrined in law. Dobbs has now dropped all the guardrails. 41 states currently ban abortion at some point in pregnancy - including six states that have enshrined viability limits in their state constitutional amendments. The granting of state power over pregnant people at a certain point has profound implications for criminalization—including for behaviors during pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and threats to bodily autonomy and diminished rights of pregnant people.
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Transcript
Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]
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