Sunday, June 12, 2011

Illegal imprisonment of a fetus

I was talking with a nurse who works in a prison and quipped that imprisoning pregnant women seems to be a violation of the fetus's constitutional rights if you're assuming a fetus is a person.

Turns out that in 1989 a woman named Lovetta Farrar had the same idea.  She brought two lawsuits in Missouri on the subject; one saying that the imprisonment of the fetus violates its 13th amendment rights, the other suit was asking for improved prenatal care because the fetus was endangered.


I haven't been able to find any other information on the subject or about how her lawsuits played out.

1 comment:

  1. I heard or read a news item in the '90s about a fetus that sued LA county jail for illegal imprisonment (they were holding the mother-to-be). A judge ruled that a fetus had no liberty interest, which is false: babies born to imprisoned women suffer from her imprisonment.

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