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Law and Gender

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Pregnancy

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The Detention, Confinement, And Incarceration Of Pregnant Women For The Benefit Of Fetal Health, April L. Cherry Jan 2007

The Detention, Confinement, And Incarceration Of Pregnant Women For The Benefit Of Fetal Health, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Section One of this Article discusses the effect of drug policy on the detention and confinement of pregnant women. This section also outlines three types of "fetal protection measures" that result in the detention, confinement, or incarceration of pregnant women in the name of fetal health and examines the legal rationales behind these mechanisms. Section One then questions whether detention is an effective way to reach the state's articulated goal of better fetal outcomes. Section Two offers a discussion of the constitutional rights at issue. This section addresses the ways in which detention violates two essential components of women's rights: …


Roe's Legacy: The Nonconsensual Medical Treatment Of Pregnant Women And Implications For Female Citizenship, April L. Cherry Jan 2004

Roe's Legacy: The Nonconsensual Medical Treatment Of Pregnant Women And Implications For Female Citizenship, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In this Essay, I demonstrate how I have come to the conclusion that the "compelling state interest" language used by the Court in Roe has been used to constrain and derogate women's citizenship. In Part I, I detail Roe's holding and describe some of the arguments, which use Roe as precedent, that seek to justify limits on health care decision making by pregnant women. I argue that because Roe does not address situations outside of the abortion context, it leaves intact women's common law and constitutional liberty rights to direct their medical care. Therefore, the state cannot constitutionally compel medical …


The Free Exercise Rights Of Pregnant Women Who Refuse Medical Treatment, April L. Cherry Jan 2002

The Free Exercise Rights Of Pregnant Women Who Refuse Medical Treatment, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In Part II, I outline the values protected by the free exercise clause. I also analyze modern free exercise jurisprudence, ending with the status of religious exemptions from laws of general applicability since the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith, which severely limits the situations in which strict scrutiny will be applied to analyze government actions that compels a religious believer to act contrary to her beliefs. In Part III, I first discuss the law regarding the right to refuse medical treatment. I then explore the states' rationales for using the force of law on pregnant women who …


Maternal-Fetal Conflicts, The Social Construction Of Maternal Deviance, And Some Thoughts About Love And Justice, April L. Cherry Jan 1999

Maternal-Fetal Conflicts, The Social Construction Of Maternal Deviance, And Some Thoughts About Love And Justice, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

FIRST PARAGRAPH: In the short amount of time that we have together today, I would like to accomplish three tasks. First, I would like to offer a brief overview of what and whom we are talking about when we talk about "maternal-fetal conflicts." Second, I would like to discuss some of the assumptions that are held about the women involved in these "conflicts," with the hope that giving voice to these assumptions might help us better understand why we may be willing to accept the coerced medical treatment of pregnant women, or legal sanctions against pregnant women who refuse treatment …