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Pushing Back: Protecting Maternal Autonomy From The Living Room To The Delivery Room, Benjamin Grant Chojnacki

Journal of Law and Health

As mothers are given more freedom to make their delivery choices, problems with the current maternity care system and the legal protections afforded fetus have the potential to diminish maternal independence. At one end of the spectrum, the home birth movement and reactions against "medicalized" birth have the potential to create physician distrust and a greater resistance to medical treatment. This resistance, when coupled with an expansive view of fetal rights may result in compelled medical treatment, injury, or the loss of parental rights. At the other end of the spectrum, elective C-sections and inductions will diminish the likelihood that …