Human Rights in Childbirth Conference

In thinking about how activists are attempting to establish new human rights, I came across a conference that concluded yesterday in The Hague for a movement to establish a woman’s human right to choose where and how she gives birth. Like other human rights-based movements, this one has a focused constituency (women about to give birth), particular network of activists with interests (mostly midwives), and a foothold in national and international law (a Hungarian court case that led to a ECHR statement saying women should have the right to choose the way they bear a child).

Of particular interest to me is that the organizers of the conference considered the rights of the unborn child v. the rights of the mother. As in the abortion issue, those rights are in tension (medical professionals tell women they must bear a child in a hospital instead of at home for the sake of the child). But the rights-in-childbirth movement also considers the fact that the unborn child may have rights beyond survival, that is, the right to be born in a way that is best for her.

View online at: https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/human-rights-in-childbirth-conference/

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