Sovereignty of the individual - Definition and Overview

Sovereignty of the individual is the political and philosophical viewpoint that a person has complete authority only over him or herself and his/her own life. This has been used by anarchists to argue that any authority exercised by any organisation (in particular the state) over individuals is therefore immoral.

The sovereignty of a person's body is one of the fundamental human rights in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a major argument in favour of allowing women to have an abortion.