Feminist critiques of new fertility technologies: implications for social policy

The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
A Donchin

Abstract

This essay aims to show how feminist theoretical and practical perspective have enriched and deepened debate about moral and social issues generated by the proliferation and commodification of new reproductive techniques. It evaluates alternative feminist appraisals beginning with the first group to organize a collective response to the medicalization of infertility and explores several weaknesses working within their assessment: objectification of infertile women, naturalizing constructions of motherhood, hostility to technology, and an overly simplistic conception of power relations. Next, it shows how subsequent feminists have reframed the issues to overcome these weaknesses, drawing on themes prominent in recent theoretical debates: the need to reclaim women's agency, to revalue mothering, and to reappraise power relations. Lastly, it weighs the prospects for a collaborative politics that is sensitive to the social marginalization of vulnerable women and suggests practical strategies for responding to mounting pressures to procreate at any price.

Citations

Nov 12, 2005·The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB·Carolyn McLeod
Sep 17, 2013·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Anna Alichniewicz, Monika Michalowska
Aug 15, 2014·Human Fertility : Journal of the British Fertility Society·Merryn Elizabeth Ekberg
Jun 10, 2005·Bioethics·Aline H Kalbian
Sep 14, 2019·Sociology of Health & Illness·Charlotte Jones
Oct 8, 2021·HEC Forum : an Interdisciplinary Journal on Hospitals' Ethical and Legal Issues·Ana S IltisDeirdre Sawinski

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