blog.bioethics.net
a Nature Top 50 science blog from The American Journal of Bioethics
Entries from blog.bioethics.net tagged with 'reproduction'
Cultural Sex Selection: No Harm, No Foul?
Emily Willingham asks an important question as to whether the apparent cultural preference toward having a male child in the family among Asian-Americans represents a harm--either to Asian-American girls, or simply to women generally. I'm inclined to think the latter. But we'll let you decide: A New York Times story... (read the rest)
Death in the Midwest
Never mind the obvious disconnect between being "pro-life" and trying to make your point by killing someone in cold blood. Let's put that to the side for the moment and focus on something else: Dr. Tiller, shot to death this past weekend, was one of only three physicians in the... (read the rest)
Cheaper, More Quiet, and Just: The Female Condom 2.0
Female Health Co has finally achieved a long sought after goal: a female condom that is affordable, user-friendly, and will allow for the double X chromosome crowd to take greater control over their sexual health. According to MSNBC, the condom is anticipated to cost as little as 60 cents when... (read the rest)
Don't Blame Momma.
Today from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Arthur Caplan has published an opinion piece on the issue that has all of bioethics (and the entire country) talking: the famous (or infamous) California octuplets. So unless you've been flying in an airplane continuously for the last 96 hours or don't own a television,... (read the rest)
UPDATE: And Baby H Makes 8...No, 14!
As the story over the California octuplets born this week has unraveled, the ethical issues surrounding their birth have expanded beyond those of just the health and welfare of the mother and 8 tiny little fetuses but to questions of social justice and the choice of the mother to have... (read the rest)
Quick, Easy Criticism of Conjoined Twins' Parents is Just That
Last week on Bioedge, Michael Cook brought to our attention a story from the UK involving Lisa and Mike Chamberlain, soon-to-be parents of conjoined twins, who have refused to consider terminating their pregnancy. The exact extent to which the twins are conjoined is still not known to their doctors, but... (read the rest)
What's That in Your Christmas Stocking?
Planned Parenthood of Indiana is giving out a holiday gift that has some people outraged. What possibly in the season of giving could have Hoosiers so upset? According to a news report out of Evansville, Indiana, $25 gift certificates are being handed out by the organization this holiday season which... (read the rest)
Lonely "Virgin Mary" Shark Proves Her Species Doesn't Need Males Either
Scientists have reported in the Journal of Fish Biology (a real page turner) that for the second time, a lonely lady shark in captivity has given birth to a shark pup. Yes, folks that's right a girl shark who has not come in contact with any boy sharks has become... (read the rest)
Looking ahead to "artificial" sperm and eggs
The possibility of sperm or eggs being created from pluripotent stem cells has been a hot topic of discussion in Britain over the last few months. The subject's come up as part of the broader debate about the upcoming vote on the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill. (The Britsh... (read the rest)
The pregnant transgender man talks to Oprah
From a recap on Oprah's site: Thomas [Beatie] says the desire to have children doesn't make him feel like less of a man. "I have a very stable male gender identity. I see pregnancy as a process, and it doesn't define who I am. It's not a male or female... (read the rest)
Inside the lives of surrogates
Newsweek's cover story this week is about the experiences of women who gestate babies for others. Here's a clip from the piece by Lorraine Ali and Raina Kelley: Very little is understood about the world of the surrogate. That's why we talked to dozens of women across America who are,... (read the rest)
A pregnant father
While it's not quite the situation some have speculated will one day come about, a transgender man in Oregon says he's pregnant. Writing in the April issue of The Advocate, Thomas Beattie says the reception to his pregnancy has been awkward and chilly: Our situation sparks legal, political, and social... (read the rest)
"Natural" can mean many things
Via Jim Fossett comes this op-ed by Neil Shubin in NYT about the variety of ways species have found to reproduce -- and how that should make us cautious when talking about what's "natural" in debates about cloning and other technologies. Here's a snip: Cloning is one of many mechanisms... (read the rest)
Men and abortion
The LA Times recently reported on a "burgeoning movement" (statistics aren't cited) of activism among men who are "post abortive" -- that is, they contributed to a pregnancy that ended in abortion. As one Christian counselor tells LAT, "We had abortions." There seem to be two motivations behind this movement.... (read the rest)
Issue to watch: personhood for embryos
The Chicago Tribune reports that anti-abortion activists in six states are pushing for ballot referendums that would grant "personhood" and constitutional rights to embryos. The head of Georgia Right to Life tells the Tribune the goal is to introduce such initiatives in as many as 30 states during the next... (read the rest)
Following up: vCJD and donated sperm, HPV vaccine
Here are a few updates and extensions to recent posts on blog.bioethics.net: Imported sperm shortage After everyone seemed to have a good laugh about the ban on imports of donated Scandinavian sperm, Slate's Explainer took up the question of whether donated sperm could transmit vCJD. The Explainer's conclusion: probably not.... (read the rest)
Imported sperm shortage
The New York Post reported on Sunday that an FDA ban on imported sperm from 30 countries because of concerns about Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has supplies of Scandinavian sperm at Cryos International's NYC office running low (apparently Cryos is the place to go if you're looking for blond hair and blue... (read the rest)
Birthing a patriot
As a public service message to our all readers in the greater Ulyanovsk region, today is the Day of Conception. That's right, you and your partner can take the day off and do your part to stem Russia's declining birthrate. And why today? Well, it's 9 months before June... (read the rest)
Birthing, competitive and constrained
Following up on the babies-as-luxury-items thread... NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday recently ran a piece about "competitive birthing." The short story: the last decade has seen large families become status symbols for wealthy couples. In other words, babies have become another form of conspicuous consumption. Says one demographer who appears in... (read the rest)
It's not just the developed world
Last week we referenced an article in The Economist about Japan's struggle in adapting to an aging, shrinking population. There's speculation that Japan's situation is a preview of what many other developed countries will face in the not-to-distant future. That last sentenced should be edited, though, to remove "developed." As... (read the rest)
Choosing to go gray
The most recent issue of The Economist features an interesting article about Japan's struggles in adapting to a population that is both aging and shrinking (average lifespan is now 82 years, fertility rate is 1.32). Firms are scraping to find young workers, farm towns are disappearing, and policy analysts are... (read the rest)
The period of choice
Very soon in pharmacies across the country, the contraceptive Lybrel will become available to those women with a prescription. Instead of menstruating once a month, as with traditional oral contraceptives, or once every three months, as with the more recent Seasonale and Seasonique, women will be able to eliminate menstruation... (read the rest)
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