ABSTRACT
The recent proliferation of legal rights strikes many as equally troublesome. Until 1973, it was illegal for a woman to procure an abortion. The demand for and exercise of this new legal right has caused a backlash that has heightened social conflict and threatens to disrupt law and order in our society. The rhetoric of right-to-life groups has incited some extremists to bomb a number of clinics that provide prenatal medical services and occasionally to murder physicians known to have performed abortions. The chapter presents some key concepts discussed in this book. The book begins with a summary of the historical origins of the idea of human rights and discusses several new human rights. It shows that women's rights are especially interesting because feminists have been divided on whether the appeal to rights should be central to the struggle for the equality and well-being of women. The book reports the reasons for and arguments against several new medical rights.
