ABSTRACT
The issue of individual rights has been a fairly constant theme through the previous chapters as we have explored rights of access to assisted reproductive technology (ART), rights to knowledge of biological parentage, genetic rights, the rights of parents to choose the characteristics of their children, health rights and health tourism, and the rights of individuals and communities in times of pandemic influenza. The concept of individual autonomy is a close partner of individual rights for, in contemporary society, the autonomous individual is one separated from others in society by ‘a wall (of rights)’ (Nedelsky 1989: 12). Autonomy is a core concept in Western society. Drawing upon liberalism’s ideal of the self-owning individual, autonomy has come to represent the ideal of the self-determining individual who has ownership of his or her own body. The autonomous individual is also very much an economic individual who is either financially self-sufficient or free to contract for his labour in the market-place.
