Miss Hannah Carpenter1
1The University Of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, United States
Biography:
Hannah Carpenter is a third-year Ph.D. student studying bioethics and health humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, United States. Hannah is from England and has a background in law and healthcare policy. Her research focus is reproductive healthcare justice and ethics, public health policy, and clinical ethics.
Abstract:
Fetal disposition laws set out provisions for the disposal and reporting of fetal tissue after a fetal death has occurred. In the U.S., most states do not specifically regulate the disposal of fetal tissue. However, some states impose restrictive requirements, sanctioning the state regulation of pregnancy loss and assigning personhood to fetuses posthumously. Fourteen U.S. states establish the mandatory burial or cremation of fetal tissue. Of these states, nine mandate cremation or burial as the only permissible method of disposition following abortion, and five impose these requirements for both miscarried and aborted fetal tissue. Since Dobbs v. Jackson removed the constitutional right to abortion, three states have imposed additional fetal disposition requirements. With reproductive autonomy rapidly declining in the U.S., fetal burial laws serve to buttress abortion and miscarriage reporting, undermine patient autonomy, and facilitate ways in which wider social structures and institutions construe pregnancy as fetal-centric. In this presentation I use a legal analysis to examine restrictive fetal disposition statutes across the U.S., paying specific attention to language that stratifies personhood. Second, I use feminist considerations to explore the relationship between fetal disposition laws and the management of pregnancy loss. I demonstrate how the elevation of fetal rights works to constrain reproductive choices, denying individuals the autonomy to value their pregnancy and prenatal life. I suggest an approach that validates variable responses to fetal death and recognizes the relational nature of pregnancy loss, acknowledging that some disposition methods may be appropriate for some individuals without mandating for all.