Constitutionalizing the body -- The human body as a form of property -- The regulatory state -- The right to privacy -- A confusing legacy -- Historical background -- Medicalizing the body -- The germ theory -- Eugenics -- The crusade for birth control -- A revival of rights -- The end of life -- Compulsory vaccination : private rights versus police powers -- Mandatory sterilization : eugenics on trial -- Contraception, abortion, and the right to die : privacy on trial -- Legacy and impact -- End-of-life issues on trial -- Biotechnology on trial -- Documents -- Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Anti-vaccination circular, distributed during the epidemic of small pox in Boston, 1901 -- Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) -- Zucht V. King (1922) -- Buck v. Bell (1927) -- Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) -- Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) -- Roe et al. v. Wade (1973) -- Bowers, Attorney General of Georgia v. Hardwick, et al. (1986) -- Webster, et al. v. Reproductive Health Services, et al. (1989) -- Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, et al. v. Casey (1992) -- Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Public Health (1990) -- Washington, et al., petitioners v. Harold Glucksberg, et al. (1997) -- Oregon's Death with Dignity Act -- Key people, laws, and concepts.