Genetic Engineering

[devonin]

I'm curious where you've gotten the idea that a fetus is "the legal property of the mother"

I'm pretty sure that no account is made at all as far as ownership of a fetus, any more than you would have to talk about whether you had legal ownership of a kidney. If you fell victim to the kidney-stealing bathtub-of-ice urban legend, the person responsible, if caught, is almost certainly not going to be charged with theft of property so much as assault.

If there were an actual physical ownership, that would really -really- be a strong argument towards making abortion mandatorialy legal in all cases in all places. If the thing is mine to do with as I please there is NO question whatsoever of the legality of doing what I want with it/to it.

This would make the same thing be true of genetic engineering. I can do what I want with my stuff, except insofar as we give explicit additional rights to something even if owned. But this would make negative tampering with a fetus' genetics more akin to animal cruelty than anything else.