Between the Right to Life of the Unborn Child and the Right to Dispose of the Pregnant Woman’s Own Body

Abstract

The dramatic evolution of genetics and medicine in the twentieth century has led to the recognition
and defense of initially controversial rights from a medical, ethical, religious, and legal point of view. These
rights, grouped under the general name of personality rights, are governed by the principle of the inviolability
of the human being and the right to self-determination, which are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. The
principle of inviolability presumes the absence of any harm or interference with the human being, regardless
of who is its author, for example, the right to life of the fetus, and the right to self-determination refers to the
possibility of refusing any physical or other harm such as and to decide on any procedure that involves or
affects its body. The questions we will try to answer are the following: “Where does the right to dispose of
the pregnant woman’s own body begin and where does the right to life of the fetus end? Is the fetus a part of
the pregnant woman’s body or is it a human being? In the context of the development of these rights, the
intervention of the legislator has become indispensable in order to establish the general conditions and the
limits of their application.