Abstract

A capacitated pregnant woman has a nearly unqualified right to refuse a cesarean section. Her right to say “no” takes precedence over clinicians’ preferences and even over clinicians’ concerns about fetal health. Leading medical societies, human rights organizations, and appellate courts have all endorsed this principle. Nevertheless, clinicians continue to limit reproductive liberty by forcing and coercing women to have unwanted cesareans. This “Legal Briefing” reviews recent court cases involving this type of obstetric violence. I have organized these court cases into the following six categories: 1. Epidemic of Unwanted Cesareans2. Court-Ordered Cesareans3. Physician-Coerced Cesareans4. Physician-Ordered Cesareans5. Cesareans for Incapacitated Patients6. Cesareans for Patients in a Vegetative State or Who Are Brain Dead.