Feminism: Reproduction

Stigma taints individuals with a spoiled identity and loss of status or discrimination. This article is the first to examine the stigma attached to abortion and surrogacy and consider how law may stigmatize women for failing to conform to social expectations about maternal roles. Courts should consider evidence of stigma when evaluating laws regulating abortion or surrogacy to determine whether these laws are based on impermissible gender stereotyping.

This study was an attempt to examine predictors of maternal health as perceived by pregnant women in Eti-Osa LGA of Lagos State. The study adopted the survey design. The Maternal Health Scale , a self designed scale consisting of 25 items was administered to 100 pregnant women in three selected hospitals. Three hypotheses were formulated for the study and they were all sustained. Cultural practices was the most potent predictor of maternal health . Consequent upon these findings, there is need (...) for education and enlightenment campaigns focused on maternal health in primary health care centres by government and other non-governmental groups. There is also the urgent necessity to provide women with the appropriate health education to enable them make informed decisions concerning their health and that of their children. (shrink)

The field of assisted reproduction is one of the fastest growing areas in medicine. The development of new and sophisticated techniques all aim to give reproductive technologists and scientists a better understanding of reproductive biology. The development of new techniques may also be able to improve the chances of an infertile couple towards achieving a pregnancy. However the ethics and legality of assisted reproductive technology must not be brushed aside. Islamic scholars whose reference basis resides in the Holy Quran and (...) the Hadith have addressed different issues relating to assisted reproductive technology. Some of the issues remain controversial and need detailed discussion before it can be deemed as appropriate and legible for use as guidelines in the development of the processes involved. (shrink)

This paper provides a materialist approach to defining gender identity.

The spectacular progress in assisted reproduction technology that has been witnessed for the past thirty years resulted in emerging new ethical dilemmas as well as the revision of some perennial ones. The paper aims at a feminist approach to oocyte and spare embryo donation for research. First, referring to different concepts of autonomy and informed consent, we discuss whether the decision to donate oocyte/embryo can truly be an autonomous choice of a female patient. Secondly, we argue the commonly adopted language (...) of gift is misleading and that calling for altruism could put female patients at risk of exploitation. Finally, we point out that the presence of gender stereotypes in the procreative area casts doubt whether even a more robust notion of informed consent manages to overcome this risk. (shrink)

McLachlan and Swales dispute my arguments against commercial surrogatemotherhood. In reply, I argue that commercial surrogate contractsobjectionably commodify children because they regardparental rights over children not as trusts, to be allocated in the bestinterests of the child, but as like property rights, to be allocatedat the will o the parents. They also express disrespect for mothers, bycompromising their inalienable right to act in the best interest of theirchildren, when this interest calls for mothers to assert a custody rightin their children.

The goal of this thesis is to expose and analyze the ethical problems of the proposed use of fetal ovarian tissue as a source of donor eggs for infertility treatment, from an embodied, feminist ethical perspective. Fetal ovarian tissue is taken from an aborted fetus and used to help another woman become pregnant. An ethical analysis of this use must begin by considering the construction of pregnancy in the powerful discourses of medicine and law. Medical discourse constructs pregnant women as (...) fetal containers. Legal regulation of pregnant women normalizes and enforces this status. Medical discourse further constructs female reproduction as wasteful. Fetal tissue, and other reproductive tissues, are medically understood as waste. This classification makes their use, which this thesis argues is akin to recycling, appear ethically acceptable. ;The drive to recycle fetal ovarian tissue reflects a pervasive inability to accept loss in medical technoscience and modern Western culture. Recycling fetal ovarian tissue elevates the biological building blocks of life, or "life itself" over individual lived lives. In a society which already devalues people based on social characteristics such as gender, race and class, the elevation of "life itself" will further devalue these lived lives. Recycling has further implications: it destroys the work of memory and forgetting; it provides redemption for abortion thus confirming the success of the American anti-abortion movement in establishing it as a "bad" act; and it helps medical technoscience, as a cultural system in itself, to manage the problem of death. Currently, human tissue donation is ethically acceptable only when it is given and received as a gift. This thesis argues that giving and the gift relationship do not transform the waste and recycling aspects of fetal ovarian tissue use into an ethical process; rather, they disguise this utilitarian approach to fetal ovarian tissue and women seeking abortions. ;Women's ethical work in remembering, forgetting and narrating abortion stories is lost in the drive to recycle fetal ovarian tissue. The recycled fetus is an unethical gift. (shrink)

My project here is to argue for situating moral judgments about Indian surrogacy in the context of Reproductive Justice. I begin by crafting the best picture of Indian surrogacy available to me while marking some worries I have about discursive colonialism and epistemic honesty. Western feminists' responses to contract pregnancy fall loosely into two interrelated moments: post-Baby M discussions that focus on the morality of surrogacy work in Western contexts, and feminist biomedical ethnographies that focus on the lived dimensions of (...) reproductive technologies and how they are embodied and negotiated in specific cultural contexts. Both approaches have their shortcomings. Uncritically extending Western moral frameworks (for example, liberal feminist political values) to Indian surrogacy work raises the specter of discursive colonialism; with it, worries arise about how Western normative traditions can distort, erase, or misread non-Western subjects' lived experiences. Feminist biomedical ethnographic approaches correct this, but raise the specter of a weak moral absenteeism; with it, concerns arise about under-theorizing the structural harms and injustices shaping surrogacy worker's lives. I suggest that we might reduce these shortcomings by framing normative and ethnographic engagement with global surrogacy as questions of reproductive justice. (shrink)

Canada's Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies rejects all forms of surrogacy arrangement under the rubric of objecting to commercial surrogacy. Noncommercial surrogacy arrangements, however, can be defended against the commission's objections. They can be viewed as cases of giving a benefit or service to another in a way that expresses benevolence, and establishes a relationship between surrogates and prospective 'social' parents that allows mutual understanding and reciprocal personal interaction between them.

When it comes to discourses around women's labor in global contexts, we need feminist philosophical frameworks that take the intersections of gender, race, and global capitalism seriously in order to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of women's lives within global processes. Women of color feminist philosophy can bring much to the table in such discussions. In this essay, I theorize about a concrete instance of global women's labor: transnational commercial gestational surrogacy. By introducing a “racialized gender” analysis into the philosophical (...) debate on this issue, I argue that women's reproductive labor is becoming increasingly stratified within the global economy along racial and other lines. This paves the way for a “transnational reproductive caste system,” which ends up reifying various social hierarchies and sustaining existing global inequities. I aim to expose the kind of violence that surrogates experience due to such stratification as women of color in a transnational space. I discuss how discourses of race and existing racial hierarchies play out in international surrogacy and ways in which these, and indeed, the very category of “woman of color” get complicated in international contexts when they intermingle with other localized social forms and global inequities. For the purposes of my argument, I engage several insights from feminist of color Dorothy Roberts's work on race and reproductive technologies in the US. (shrink)

The issue of surrogacy has received a great deal of attention in the West ever since the famous Baby M case in the latter part of the 1980s. Ethicists, psychologists, and legal experts have struggled with the meanings and implications of this practice, especially in its commercial form. In contemporary times, however, the phenomenon of surrogacy has assumed new dimensions as it travels across national borders in the context of globalization. As a transnational phenomenon, it is now marketed as an (...) attractive part of "Reproductive Tourism," for the most part, by various clinics and organizations located in the global south to some of the so-called "First World nations."Until now, most of the philosophical literature. (shrink)

Medical issues affecting health care have become everyday media events. In response to mounting public concern, growing numbers of bioethicists are being appointed to medical school faculties and public policy panels. However the ideas voiced in these forums are seldom informed by feminist perspectives. In this important book, a distinguished group of feminist scholars and activists discuss crucial bioethics topics in a feminist light. Among the subjects explored are the care/justice debates, transforming bioethics, practice, and reproduction. The book also covers (...) less commonly discussed issues, such as culturally appropriate responses to reproductive health problems in developing countries. (shrink)

In Canada, the use of reproductive technologies is largely governed by the Assisted Human Reproduction Act . One of the founding principles of the AHR Act is that “trade in the reproductive capabilities of women and men, and the exploitation of children, women and men for commercial ends raise health and ethical concerns that justify their prohibition” ). This principle is instantiated in several sections of the AHR Act, including s. 7, which prohibits the purchase of gametes. It follows that, (...) in Canada, the legal supply of human eggs is limited to eggs from donors.1Donors, by definition, are women who do not receive payment for their eggs. Typically, known .. (shrink)

Transnational reproductive travel is a largely unfettered multibillion-dollar global industry that flourishes, in part, by capitalizing on differences in legal regimes, wages and standards of living, and cultural and ethical norms. Indeed, as Scott Carney explains with respect to the commercialization of human eggs for third-party reproduction, “internationalization has made oversight laughable. … [R]egulators are dogs with no teeth” . While professional organizations can introduce guidelines and nation-states can introduce laws, the fact is that patients can travel to places where (...) there are no restrictions on .. (shrink)

This introduction presents the converging points of view (including those from continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, psychology and sociology) on issues regarding reproductive technologies, especially as they relate to childbirth.

The introduction of contraceptive technologies hasresulted in the separation of sex and procreation. Theintroduction of new reproductive technologies (mainlyIVF and embryo transfer) has led not only to theseparation of procreation and sex, but also to there-definition of the terms mother and family.For the purpose of this essay, I will distinguishbetween:1. the genetic mother – the donor of the egg;2. the gestational mother – she who bears and gives birth to the baby;3. the social mother – the woman who raises the (...) child.This essay will deal only with the form of gestationalsurrogacy in which the genetic parents intend to bethe social parents, and the surrogate mother has nogenetic relationship to the child she bears anddelivers. I will raise questions regarding medicalethical aspects of surrogacy and the obligation(s) ofthe physician(s) to the parties involved. I will arguethat the gestational surrogate is a womb to rent,that there is great similarity between gestationalcommercial surrogacy and organ transplant marketing.Furthermore, despite claims to freedom of choice andfree marketing, I will claim that gestationalsurrogacy is a form of prostitution and slavery,exploitation of the poor and needy by those who arebetter off. The right to be a parent, although notconstitutional, is intuitive and deeply rooted.However, the issue remains whether this rightoverrules all other rights, and at what price to theparties involved. I will finally raise the followingprovocative question to society: In the interim periodbetween today''s limited technology and tomorrow''sextra-corporeal gestation technology (ectogenesis),should utilizing females in PVS (persistent vehetativestate) for gestational surrogacy be sociallyacceptable/permissible – provided they have leftpermission in writing? (shrink)

: This paper engages with theories of the monstrous maternal in feminist philosophy to explore how examples of visual art practice by Susan Hiller, Marc Quinn, Alison Lapper, Tracey Emin, and Cindy Sherman disrupt maternal ideals in visual culture through differently imagined body schema. By examining instances of the pregnant body represented in relation to maternal subjectivity, disability, abortion, and "prosthetic" pregnancy, it asks whether the "monstrous" can offer different kinds of figurations of the maternal that acknowledge the agency and (...) potential power of the pregnant subject. (shrink)

This paper engages with theories of the monstrous maternal in feminist philosophy to explore how examples of visual art practice by Susan Hiller, Marc Quinn, Alison Lapper, Tracey Emin, and Cindy Sherman disrupt maternal ideals in visual culture through differently imagined body schema. By examining instances of the pregnant body represented in relation to maternal subjectivity, disability, abortion, and "prosthetic" pregnancy, it asks whether the "monstrous" can offer different kinds of figurations of the maternal that acknowledge the agency and potential (...) power of the pregnant subject. (shrink)

Reproductive technology is in the forefront of medical research and contemporary bioethical debates. In the United States, ethical issues involved are often framed by conflicts among legal, scientific, and religious perspectives. The primary religious voices influencing these North American discussions are those grounded in various Jewish and Christian traditions. However, this country is known for its religious and cultural diversity. This diversity of worldviews presents challenges that the field of bioethics needs to address. My goal is to inform and contribute (...) to the ongoing bioethical dialogues and to increase the cultural/religious awareness and sensitivity of health care professionals. ;This is an interdisciplinary project that weaves elements from the fields of South Asian Studies, religion, literature, the practice of medicine, and bioethics. From the Mahabharata birth narratives of the five Pan&dotbelow;dava brothers and their 101 Kaurava cousins, points of contact between antiquity and modern reproductive technology are discussed. Then, four relevant topics are discussed: the priority society places on having children; the acceptance of a variety of creative means for producing children: the active role women play in determining reproductive choices; and an interrelationship between gods and humans in the process of procreation. Finally, five characteristics that are important to Hinduism are extracted, namely: the focus on societal good; the underlying unity of all life; the requirements of dharma, the multivalent nature of Hinduism; and a theory of karma. Utilizing the above insights, I then examine the case of Jaycee Buzzanca, a baby conceived with donor gametes, through in vitro fertilization, and carried by a surrogate. ;Jaycee's case not only challenges the limits of the U.S. legal system; it also highlights complexities of the ethical issues that can accompany the use of assisted reproductive technologies. By examining Jaycee's predicament in light of Hindu thought, I analyze Hindu responses. Though the above principles preclude the formulation of the definitive Hindu ethic, they do provide a beneficial set of lenses through which one can examine the ethical issues associated with assisted reproductive technology. (shrink)

: We criticize a view of maternity that equates the natural with the genetic and biological and show how such a practice overdetermines the maternal body and the maternal experience for women who are mothers through adoption and ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies). As an alternative, we propose a new framework designed to rethink maternal bodies through the lens of feminist embodiment. Feminist embodied maternity, as we call it, stresses the particularity of experience through subjective embodiment. A feminist embodied maternity emphasizes (...) the physical relations of the subjective lived-body rather than the genetic or biological connections. Instead of universalizing claims about the maternal body, embodied maternity looks to communicable experiences and empathetic understanding. (shrink)

With advances in assisted reproductive technologies, globalization, and the ease of contact via the internet, the use of gestational surrogates as a family building option has grown significantly over the past decade. In a gestational surrogacy arrangement, unlike a traditional surrogacy arrangement, the surrogate is not the genetic mother of the child she carries; the genetic mother is either an egg donor or the commissioning parent. There are only a handful of countries in which commercial surrogacy is permitted, with the (...) United States and India prominent among them. More surrogacy arrangements are carried out in the United States than in any other nation, and the number of gestational.. (shrink)

This paper presents a relational account of autonomy showing that a technological imperative impedes autonomy through undermining women’s capacity to resist use of technology in the context of labor and birth. A technological imperative encourages dependence on technology for reassurance whenever possible through creating a (i) separation of maternal and fetal interests; and (ii) perceived need to use technology whenever possible. In response I offer an account of how women might promote autonomy through cultivating self-trust and self-confidence. Autonomy is not (...) simply a matter of choosing freely and acting on our choices, it is also a matter of possessing the ability to resist social contexts undermining choice and action. An important implication of this view is that respecting autonomy requires more than simply respecting persons’ ability to make and act on choices. Respecting patient autonomy requires a recognition of patients’ need to resist factors impeding autonomy and support for that resistance. (shrink)

Existing accounts of meaning in reproductive contexts, especially those put forward in debates concerning abortion, tend to focus on the (moral) status of the fetus. This issue on miscarriage, pregnancy loss, and fetal death accomplishes a shift this conversation, in the direction of pushing past embryo-centric value judgments. To put it bluntly, the miscarried embryo is not the one who has to live with the experience. The essays in this special issue are a significant addition to the scarce literature on (...) miscarriage and fetal death. Contributions are from specialists in continental and analytical philosophy, feminism, bioethics, theoretical and applied ethics, social and political philosophy, social epistemology and philosophy of language, narrative, aesthetics, popular culture, and gender studies. As guest editors, we sought to offer a variety of approaches to the topic, to further the understanding of miscarriage and fetal death as important to many areas of philosophy, especially social philosophy. We suggest that the unchosenness and invisibility of miscarriage are central to its seeming irrelevance to social identities and social norms of testimony, recognition, and ascription of significance to experiences. (shrink)

The. Metamorphosis. of. Motherhood. Patricia. Smith. Motherhood, as traditionally understood, is obsolete. It is not yet as obsolete as, say, knighthood, but it is moving just as inevitably in the same direction. No one wants to admit that, but it is ...

Who a child’s parents are is a question that might be answered differently by a jurist than by the child concerned. Law directs us to look at particular rules to determine parentage. Yet these rules might not reflect actual relationships within families that extend care, nurturing and support to children, particularly when conception has occurred through assisted procreation. This work is prompted by the discordance between legal and social locations of parenthood in these contexts. Examining Canadian common law and Quebec (...) civil law, it considers whether legal strictures imposed on families created through assisted reproduction hinders children from developing relationships that foster self-awareness and a meaningful sense of “place” within their communities. Part I of this paper considers the manner in which law searches for parents and finds them, discussing cultural and social forces at play in shaping parent-child relationships. Part II sets out a taxonomy for understanding law’s location of parenthood where children have been conceived through donated genetic material or surrogacy. Part III highlights factors that have driven these assessments of parental status, namely, biological connections, the intentions of participants in assisted procreation arrangements, and social relationships formed with the children produced by such arrangements. Potential difficulties with relying on these factors are identified, signaling the need for a more coherent and equitable framework for determinations of parental status. (shrink)

Modern contraceptives—especially long-acting, reversible contraceptives, or LARCs—are typically seen as a boon for humanity and for women, the majority of their users, in particular. But the disparity between the number and types of female and male LARCs is problematic for at least two reasons: first, because it forces women to assume most of the financial and health-related responsibilities of contraception, and second, because men’s reproductive autonomy is diminished by it. In order to understand how to change our current contraceptive arrangement, (...) I want to look at some of the historical and contemporary factors that contribute to this disparity, especially gender norms that associate women with reproduction .. (shrink)