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This volume addresses the law and ethics concerning a pregnant woman's refusal of medical treatment needed by the fetus she carries. In England and some U.S. states a pregnant woman can now refuse such treatment. Nevertheless, courts have acknowledged the residual ethical dilemmas, sometimes adverting to the inappropriateness here of legal compulsion of presumed moral duties. This leaves the impression of an uncomfortable split between the ethics and the law. The idea of a pregnant woman refusing medical treatment needed by the fetus is troubling and it helps little simply to assert her legal right to do so. At the same time, however, the idea that a pregnant woman fails in her moral duty unless she accepts any recommended treatment or surgery - however great the burdens - is not without difficulty. This study, which seeks a way between these two somewhat polarized positions, seeks to explain and justify a pregnant woman's legal right to refuse medical treatment and thus resolve, so far as possible, the surrounding ethical, legal and social tensions.
