Prenatal Harm as Child Abuse?

Attempts to prevent prenatal harm have led to a number of court cases resulting in interference with pregnant women. These include incarceration and the imposition of medical and surgical treatments thought to prevent prenatal harm. We argue that the legal sanctions that have been used and/or are proposed for use against pregnant women in order to prevent prenatal harm are (1) morally unjustified even where they might be legal, (2) are morally and legally unacceptable because they violate important moral values captured in our legal system, and (3) are morally unacceptable and would make bad law because they would contribute to the harm they would be instituted to prevent.