Abstract

Political philosophers have recently turned to the topic of justice in gestation, emphasising that the uterine environment contributes to future health outcomes and talents enjoyed in adulthood. In this presentation, I argue that bringing justice to bear on gestation is more difficult than it may seem at first glance. The fact that there are no unmediated channels between foetuses and the state makes foetuses among the least accessible subjects of justice. It also means that for the state to protect the interests of foetuses, it must command full compliance on the part of pregnant women, which comes at a very high cost to this group. I show that even the most plausible principle of justice in gestation leads to the state demanding the unthinkable from some of its citizens. I conclude the discussion by defending a solution that allows the state to realise justice for biological parents and their foetuses.

Speaker Bio

Luara Ferracioli is Associate Professor in Political Philosophy at the University of Sydney. Her first book Liberal Self-Determination in a World of Migration was published in 2022 with Oxford University Press, and her new book Parenting and the Goods of Childhood was published in 2023 with Oxford University Press. She is now an Australian Research Council DECRA fellow, working on a research project entitled Life without Birth: The Ethics, Politics, and Law of Artificial Wombs.