politics
John Oliver on fetal personhood: ‘It effectively treats women as incubators’
The host discussed problems with giving fetuses equivalent rights to humans after the overturning of Roe v Wade
TL;DR
- Fetal personhood laws grant legal rights to fetuses and embryos, impacting roughly one-third of US states.
- Women have faced severe legal consequences, including charges for abuse of a corpse after miscarriages and manslaughter after being shot while pregnant.
- The concept of fetal personhood has been a long-standing goal of the anti-abortion movement, with historical figures like Ronald Reagan advocating for constitutional protection of the unborn.
- The Supreme Court rejected fetal personhood in Roe v Wade, but the Dobbs decision allowed states to pursue such legislation more aggressively.
- Fetal personhood laws can criminalize conduct during pregnancy, such as alcohol or drug use, with harsh penalties and mandatory reporting to child protective services.
- False positives from drug tests and flawed regulations have led to mothers being flagged to the police, sometimes for innocuous reasons like eating poppy seeds or an everything bagel.
- Pregnancy loss, such as miscarriages and stillbirths, can also lead to investigations or criminal charges against women under fetal personhood laws.
- Critics argue that if every fertilized egg is a person, then IVF clinics, which produce and store multiple embryos, would logically be places where human beings regularly die.
- John Oliver concluded that fetal personhood effectively treats women as incubators, stripping them of their rights and autonomy over their own bodies and lives.