REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Families and early years

INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS  The first and most basic question posed towards parents and their children is whether or not they should exist and what limits there should be on their freedom to decide their existence.  Should a mother be forced, for religious or moral reasons, to have a child even if she does not want it?  Should a family be limited in the number of children it is allowed to have so that a country does not get overpopulated?  Should a mother be allowed total control over her ability to reproduce, including the right to selective abortion?  What if the mother has been raped?  What if the limitation proves to cause infanticide, directed particularly to girls?  What if abortion takes the place of cure in cases of disability?

WHOSE CHOICE?  Who should choose whether or not a child should be born?  The parents (the woman and the man)?  The government?  The Church?  The United Nations?

A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE We can now begin to think of this problem in terms of principles. It may be useful to remember what a universal principle is: 1. It applies to all people regardless of their subjective desires. 2. The purpose is not individual or particular, but universal. 3. It is held to be true for all cases. 4. It can be tested, rationally, to see if it is truly universal and not a self- contradiction. One thing we find again and again is that particular cases make us put into question our universal principles – so much so that we may have to rethink exactly what it is we really believe to be right.

RIGHTS  For what reasons (if any) should we be able to deny people the right to bear children?

RIGHTS  For what reasons (if any) should we be able to deny people the right to contraception or abortion?

HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS OF POPULATION  In the U.S. these questions come up against explicitly religious principles whereas in China, population control (which involves a variety of principles relating to economic, social and environmental principles) is the major issue.  Jonathan Swift’s satirical ‘Modest Proposal’ of 1729 responded to famine, poverty and unaffordable rents in Ireland by suggesting that the poor should sell their children to be eaten by the rich (he was only joking but hoped to provoke more serious responses to poverty and population problems).  In 1798 Thomas Malthus argued that population growth increases the necessity for employment and would lead to lower wages and standards of living.

THE ‘ONE CHILD POLICY’  Introduced in China in 1979 for social, economic and environmental reasons  The policy forces urban families to have no more than one child, there is not the same level of enforcement for rural families  Wealthy families can pay the government to have more children  It is controversial mainly because of the negative consequences rather than the notion of government intervention (although this is also an issue  The policy has played a part in creating a 117:100 male to female ratio (in 2000 – this may be higher now)  Male children are seen as more desirable for a whole host of social and economic reasons  This means that female children are sometimes either abandoned, given up for adoption or killed.

ABORTION AND BIRTH CONTROL  In the U.S. the issue is far more to do with liberty and morality than population  Portions of the religious right does not think abortions should be allowed under any circumstances and that birth control should either be outlawed or severely limited in distribution  These issues are particularly prescient at the moment because of the Republican party’s primary nominations (the GOP –’grand old party’ – race)  We’ll discuss these issues more in the seminar

FURTHER READING Connolly, M. (2008) Morals, Rights and Practice in the Human Services: Effective and fair decision making in health, social care and criminal justice, London: Jessica Kingsley Deech, R. (2007) From IVF to Immortality: Controversy in the Era of Reproductive Technology, Oxford: Oxford University Press Foot, R. (2000) Rights Beyond Borders: The Global Community and the Struggle over Human Rights in China, Oxford: Oxford University Press Fried, M. (1992) Reproductive Freedom: Our Right to Decide NJ: Open Magazine Kymlicka, W. (1996) Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press Nelson, J. (2003) Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement, New York: NY University Press Priaulx, N. (2007) The Harm Paradox: tort law and the unwanted child in an era of choice, London: Routledge-Cavendish

SEMINAR: REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND THE GOP Reading: _1_gender-imbalance-selective-abortion-female-feticide ceptive_rights/ fails-is-gop-seeing-reproductive-rights-backlash.html

FOETUSES, LIBERTY AND PRINCIPLES  The arguments tie directly into those surrounding religious and moral influence on education as well as the principles underlying the government’s understanding of liberty.  Liberty of the foetus becomes the absolute principle which can not be moved for religious and right wing thinkers.  However, it is the same faction that supports creationist education in schools.  Sexual liberty also experiences a limit through the suggested limitation or banning of contraception and abortion.