Right to Life v. Right to Health? Disability and Selective Abortion

Abstract

<p>Should an impaired foetus be treated on the same footing as a non-impaired one? In light of the strong and divergent views on abortion across different religious and ideological perspectives, the right to life of persons with disabilities generates tension between the 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' camps. This conflict is reflected in tensions between Articles 10 (Right to life) and 25 (Health) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the debate cuts across the disability rights and reproductive rights movements. Arguably, even assuming that life and personhood begin after birth (or at some earlier prenatal time or state) raises profound ethical and legal dilemmas that make it difficult to achieve harmonisation throughout different countries.</p>