Case Explores Rights of Fetus Versus Mother
Erik Eckholm of The New York Times reports on the implications of a Wisconsin law, which allows child-welfare authorities to forcibly confine a pregnant woman who refuses to accept treatment for drug abuse. Eckholm writes, “[T]hat law is being challenged as unconstitutional in a federal suit filed this month, the first in federal court to challenge this kind of fetal protection law. Its opponents are hoping to set an important precedent in the continuing tug of war over the rights of pregnant women and legal status of the unborn.”