Bodily Autonomy is a Fundamental Human Right

Since the Supreme Court of the United States has punted Roe v. Wade back to a State issue, there has been debate and effort about explicitly protecting the right to abortion at the state or federal level. This issue is also touched upon by many governments worldwide. However, there is a more fundamental right underlying the right to abortion, which should be considered as a constitutional amendment: the right to bodily autonomy.

Abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and gender modification all require the intervention of a medical professional, and all need to be protected. So it must be clear that a state shall make no laws that restrict, hinder, interfere with, or limit the ability of a licensed professional to carry out the un-sponsored and lucid will of an individual with respect to that individual's own body.

If somebody goes to a psychologist and wants to do drug-assisted therapy sessions, that right needs to be legally protected. The substance can still be controlled, but the doctor must be protected against malpractice by this right. A persons right to ingest any substance, harmful or otherwise, should be protected.

This right, if codified as law, could also formally protect many commonplace procedures that have generally been legal in many places: tattoos, piercings, implants, haircuts, hair transplants, nail salons, cosmetic surgery, vasectomy, hormonal therapy, hormonal birth control, performance-enhancing drugs, fluid/organ donation, etc...

A sticky issue around the right would be the determination of what age does one get this right, and should that age be the same for all that it encompasses. A teenager may need access to a life-saving abortion without parental consent, but not necessarily a tattoo. At what age should a person have autonomy over their body?

TST Tenet III: One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.