Abortion Birth Control And Surrogate Parenting

A challenging look at today's most hotly debated issues in bioethics. Within the high-paced, highly controverted field of bioethics, the most hotly debated issues center on sexuality, reproductive technology, and the family. This new volume from the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity provides a thought-provoking appraisal of the ethical dimension of the reproductive revolution from a Christian perspective. Thirty scholars and medical practitioners discuss some of the most pressing topics related to human reproduction, including: the moral status of embryos; the use of donor eggs and sperm; surrogate motherhood and human cloning; the abortifacient effect of birth control pills.

Cloning, genetic screening, embryo freezing, in vitro fertilization, Norplant, RU486--these are the technologies revolutionizing our reproductive landscape. Through the lens of procreative liberty--meaning both the freedom to decide whether or not to have children as well as the freedom to control one's reproductive capacity--John Robertson, a leading legal bioethicist, analyzes the ethical, legal, and social controversies surrounding each major technology and opens up a multitude of fascinating questions: Do frozen embryos have the right to be born? Should parents be allowed to select offspring traits? May a government force welfare recipients to take contraceptives? Robertson's arguments examine the broad range of consequences of each reproductive technology and offers a timely, multifaceted analysis of the competing interests at stake for patients, couples, doctors, policymakers, lawyers, and ethicists.Cloning, genetic screening, embryo freezing, in vitro fertilization, Norplant, RU486--these are the technologies revolutionizing our reproductive landscape. Through the lens of procreative liberty--meaning both the freedom to decide whether or not to have children as well as the freedom to control one's reproductive capacity--John Robertson, a leading legal bioethicist, analyzes the ethical, legal, and social controversies surrounding each major technology and opens up a multitude of fascinating questions: Do frozen embryos have the right to be born? Should parents be allowed to select offspring traits? May a government force welfare recipients to take contraceptives? Robertson's arguments examine the broad range of consequences of each reproductive technology and offers a timely,multifaceted analysis of the competing interests at stake for patients, couples, doctors, policymakers, lawyers, and ethicists.

Examines the changing social and economic conditions in which women become mothers or, in fewer cases, do not have children, the opportunities women have to control their own fertility and the implications of "new" reproduction technologies.

This important book describes the medical, ethical and legal aspects of reproduction in the context of recent medical advances - areas covered include the legal aspects of marriage and sexual intercourse, the control of fertility and the modern treatment of childlessness due to both male and female abnormality. Legal and moral issues arising from surrogacy are also discussed, as are the rights of the fetus - with particular attention being given to abortion, injury and treatment in utero and experimentation. Medico-legal aspects of parenting include the dilemmas consequent upon the birth of a defective child and the provision of treatment for children. A final section considers the problem of child abuse.

The present report, designed for the 1986 Meetings of Commonwealth Ministers of Law and Health, addresses general issues in Commonwealth reproductive health law. An initial overview of reproductive health services includes consideration of maternal and child mortality and their impact on family life. Succeeding chapters address a variety of legal aspects of contraception, sterilization and abortion. Also addressed are legal aspects of responses to infertility. Prominent issues in contraception include the House of Lords' decision on adolescent access to contraceptive services in the widely discussed English Gillick case, and legal aspects of newer forms of contraception. Sterilization issues include discussion of the growing Commonwealth case law on legal consequences of sterilization failure. Abortion issues include new legislation in Barbados, Bermuda, Ghana and Montserrat and litigation in, for instance, Canada and Australia. Infertility is a growing problem in all parts of the Commonwealth. Causes of infertility are discussed, followed by consideration of legislation and proposals for legislation on human artificial reproduction. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is considered to warrant special attention by the audiences addressed in this report. Discussion draws attention to the Commonwealth Secretariat's accession kit developed to facilitate membership in this Convention by Commonwealth countries which have yet to make a legal commitment to its principles and reporting mechanisms. The call for equal access to health including family planning services must be heard by Law Ministers and Health Ministers alike.