Lois Shepherd, J.D., is the Peter A. Wallenborn, Jr. and Dolly F. Wallenborn Professor of Biomedical Ethics, Professor of Public Health Sciences, Professor of Law, University of Virginia. Hilary D. Turner, J.D., graduated from University of Virginia in 2018.
J Law Med Ethics. 2018 Sep;46(3):672-679. doi: 10.1177/1073110518804222.
Many current abortion regulations represent an over-medicalization of abortion or a corruption of abortion's true medical nature, with disproportionate consequences to women with lower incomes and lesser means. This article explores the effects of unnecessary and harmful abortion restrictions on women living in poverty. A brief summary of the major abortion rights cases explains how the Constitution, as currently interpreted, vests the government and sometimes the medical profession with the power to protect women's health, rather than granting this power to women themselves. The article then argues for a new approach for protecting women's health and respecting their dignity by reframing reproductive rights as health rights that women themselves can assert.
许多现行的堕胎法规代表了堕胎的过度医学化或对堕胎真正医学性质的扭曲，对收入较低和手段较少的妇女产生了不成比例的后果。本文探讨了不必要和有害的堕胎限制对生活贫困的妇女的影响。对主要堕胎权利案件的简要总结解释了宪法目前如何解释，赋予政府有时赋予医疗行业保护妇女健康的权力，而不是将此权力授予妇女本身。然后，该文章主张通过将生殖权利重新定义为妇女自己可以主张的健康权利，为保护妇女健康和尊重其尊严提供一种新方法。
