The Right to Avoid Procreation and the Regulation of Pregnancy

This chapter considers the right to avoid procreation and the regulation of pregnancy from an American perspective. In the United States, the right to avoid procreation finds protection in constitutional and statutory law. The Supreme Court’s decisions to recognize contraception and abortion as constitutional rights have permitted generations of women a measure of reproductive freedom. However, the constitutionalization of contraception, and abortion in particular, has brought to the fore deeper contestation about the moral (and legal) status of the fetus, women’s place in society, and the meaning of motherhood. These same issues play out in decisions about the protection and regulation of women during their pregnancies. Within the framework of Supreme Court precedent, the fifty states have adopted varying approaches to the right to abortion. The trend, however, has inclined toward greater restrictions in a growing number of states. At the same time, the current Court seems likely to dilute or reject the right to abortion, with consequences for contraception, protections for pregnant women at work, and criminal intervention during pregnancy.