This book investigates the limits of the legitimate role of the state in regulating the human body. It questions whether there is a public interest in issues of bodily autonomy, with particular focus on reproductive choices, end of life choices, sexual autonomy, body modifications and selling the body. The main question addressed in this book is whether such autonomous choices about the human body are, and should be, subject to state regulation. Potential justifications for the state's intervention into these issues through mechanisms such as the criminal law and regulatory schemes are evaluated. These include preventing harm to others and/or to the individual involved, as well as more abstract concepts such as public morality, the sanctity of human life, and the protection of human dignity. The State and the Body argues that the state should be particularly wary about encroaching upon exercises of autonomy by embodied selves and concludes that only interventions based upon Mill's harm principle or, in tightly confined circumstances, the dignity of the human species as a whole should suffice to justify public intervention into private choices about the body.

1. Bodily Autonomy I. Introduction: Why the Body Matters II. Autonomy: Rights and Relations III. The Body IV. Conclusion 2. The Public-Private Distinction I. Introduction II. Different Meanings of Public and Private: Contexts, History and Rights III. Feminist Critique of the Public-Private Distinction IV. A Descriptive/Normative Spectrum V. Defining the 'Private' VI. Defining the 'Public' VII. Conclusion 3. Reproductive Choices I. Introduction II. Reproduction, the Public-Private Distinction and the Right to Respect for Private Life III. State Regulation of Reproduction in England and Wales IV. Justification for State Regulation of Reproduction V. Conclusion 4. Choices about DyingI. Introduction II. State Regulation of Dying in England and WalesIII. Justifications for the Regulation of Dying IV. Conclusion 5. Sexual Autonomy I. Introduction II. Regulation of Sexual Autonomy III. Public Morality and (Private) Sexual Autonomy IV. Conclusion 6. Bodily Modification I. Introduction II. Cosmetic Surgery III. Female Genital Mutilation IV. Body Integrity Identity Disorder and the Amputation of Healthy Limbs V. Gender Reassignment Surgery VI. Paternalistic Restrictions on Body Modification VII. Conclusion 7. Selling the Body I. Introduction II. Prostitution III. Surrogacy IV. Sale of Eggs or Organs V. Preserving the Choice Paradigm VI. Conclusion 8. Conclusion: Legitimate Justifications for Legal Regulation of Bodily AutonomyI. Defining Bodily Autonomy II. Embracing the Harm Principle III. Rejecting Paternalism and Moralism IV. Preserving the Dignity of the Human Species V. Defending the Choice Paradigm VI. Practical Recommendations to Enhance and Support Bodily Autonomy