'Reproductive ethics' Category
Ella: Bad News for Women and Families
A French drug company has developed a new “morning-after” pill, according to the Washington Post. Marketed under the brand name of ella, proponents have described it as emergency contraception for up to five days. Now you may recall that a drug called “Plan B” (levonorgestrel) is already on the market, and is in fact available [...]
Womb Transplants Now a Step Closer
It’s a development that could take your breath away, and raises interesting and profound questions about our reproductive future. Researchers in London performed womb transplants in five rabbits, a procedure that was successful in two of them. Similar work has also been done recently in other mammals. The surgical technique involved careful connections of blood [...]
Cleaning House
The President’s Council on Bioethics has been disbanded. The White House has told the members last week that their services are no longer required. Appointed in November, 2001 by the Bush Administration, the Council has provided valuable input on some of the most difficult ethical issues in our modern culture. New technologies, both at the [...]
Who is to Blame?
Ellen Goodman is an op-ed columnist for the Boston Globe. Her nationally-syndicated column is usually thoughtful, well-written and balanced. As a liberal, she often critiques social conservative positions. I usually disagree with her, but she always gives me something to think about. That is why I am troubled by her June 5th piece, “The Myth [...]
The Elephant in the Room
On March 9th, President Obama followed through on a campaign promise and issued an executive order. His signature overturned the ban, established in August, 2001, on government funding of embryo-destructive research. His speech at the signing ceremony was remarkable, not for his action (which was expected), but for what he didn’t say. Here’s an excerpt: [...]
Womb for Rent – The Ethics of Surrogate Motherhood (15)
Our podcast for November is a discussion of the complex issue of surrogate motherhood. In many parts of the world it is legal, but is it ethical? We present case study of a British couple that went to India to obtain a baby with the help of a surrogate. Our analysis will look at the [...]
Who Am I?
In our ongoing academic debates over reproductive technologies, it is perhaps all too easy to forget the real issue: we are talking about how we treat human persons, created in God’s image, who have incalculable worth. Sometimes it is good to step back and put a face on the special children whose lives are in [...]
Bargain Abortions are a Threat to Women
If abortion can be done earlier, it can be done with fewer complications for women. So goes the familiar rationale for Mifeprex (mifepristone), the so-called abortion pill, developed in France by the designation ‘RU-486.’ Yet such early medical abortions are not easy. The pill must be followed up by a prostaglandin (misoprostol) which causes the [...]
Only One Child May Live
Steven Mosher paints a horrifying picture of the grim reality of the “One Child” policy in China. As a U.S. State Department representative in Guangdong Province in 1980, Mosher witnessed first-hand the forced abortions of women who committed the “crime” of becoming pregnant for the second time. Since then, Mosher has become president of the [...]
Down Syndrome Babies: An Endangered Species?
Recent developments in genetic testing are revolutionizing the ability to test for a variety of genetic disorders in unborn babies. Before now, this required a difficult, painful, and potentially hazardous procedure called amniocentesis, ususally reserved for expectant mothers over the age of 35. Amniocentesis itself carries a 0.5% miscarriage rate, but it has been used [...]
