A Defense of the Right of Individuals' to Reproductive Decision-Making

Reproductive decision-making has always been an issue of philosophical interest. The philosophical interest in it dates back at least to Plato’s Republic. In the contemporary era, however, the philosophical interest has created divisions among individuals, state and commentators in the ways in which the rights of individuals to reproductive decision-making are seen and the manner they are to be exercised and protected. With this, individual moral agents will be acknowledged the right to safe-guard their reproductive lifestyles. Thus, the only moment that the public should interfere in the enjoyment of these rights is when the exercise of the reproductive rights has gone beyond the individuals’ private purview to create negative effects or harm to the public and the foetus at the stage of viability.