The essays next look at abortion from a variety of angles. One contends that killing fetuses is not murder; others emphasize the moral importance of access to abortion. Purdy considers the conflicting interests of women and men regarding abortion, and argues against requiring a husband's consent. The book concludes with a consideration of new reproductive technologies and arrangements, including the controversial issue of surrogacy, or contract pregnancy. Throughout, Purdy combines traditional utilitarianism with some of the most powerful insights of contemporary feminist ethics. Her provocative essays create guidelines for approaching new topics and inspire fresh thinking about old ones.
Author: Susan M. Wolf Faculty Associate at the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Associate Professor of Law and Medicine University of Minnesota Law School
Bioethics has paid surprisingly little attention to the special problems faced by women and to feminist analyses of current health care issues other than reproduction. Feminism & Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction aims to counterbalance this one-sided approach. A breakthrough volume of original essays authored by leading figures in bioethics and feminist theory, it moves beyond reproduction and nursing, taking bioethics into new territory. The book starts with an investigation of the relationship between feminism and bioethics and introduces different approaches to the problem. Chapters stress the importance of liberal feminism which prefers feminist over feminine analysis, integrate the experience of women of color, draw from the women's self-help movement, and apply feminist standpoint theory. In the second part of the book, contributors view various bioethical problems from a feminist perspective: euthanasia, AIDS, the definition of health, doctor-patient communication, the Human Genome Project, the conduct of biomedical research, and health care reform. They examine the pros and cons of the application of gender and feminism to bioethics. This provocative volume is bound to change and broaden the way bioethicists, students, patients, and the public consider bioethical issues.
Bioethics tackles the most vexing problems in health care and the biological sciences: from reproductive technologies to euthanasia, the AIDS epidemic, mapping the human genome, human subjects research, and health care reform. Yet surprisingly little attention has been paid to the special problems faced by women and to feminist analyses of current health care issues other than reproduction. This breakthrough volume of original essays authored by leading figures in bioethics and feminist theory moves beyond the areas of reproduction and nursing, taking bioethics into new territory. The book starts with an investigation of the relationship between feminism and bioethics and introduces different approaches to the problem. These chapters stress the importance of liberal feminism that prefers feminist over feminine analysis, integrates the experience of women of color, draws from the women's self-help movement, and uses the feminist stand-point theory.; In the second part of the book, the authors apply the feminist perspective to different bioethics problems: euthanasia, AIDS, the definition of health, doctor-patient communication, the Human Genome Project, the conduct of biomedical research, and health care reform. They demonstrate the gain and benefit that results when bioethics pays attention to gender and feminism. This volume will change the way bioethicists, students, patients, and the public think about these profoundly challenging problems.
The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics is an outstanding resource for anyone with an interest in feminist bioethics, with chapters covering topics from justice and power to the climate crisis. Comprising forty-two chapters by emerging and established scholars, the volume is divided into six parts: I Foundations of feminist bioethics II Identity and identifications III Science, technology and research IV Health and social care V Reproduction and making families VI Widening the scope of feminist bioethics The volume is essential reading for anyone with an interest in bioethics or feminist philosophy, and will prove an invaluable resource for scholars, teachers and advanced students Chapters 2, 22, and 30 of this book will soon be freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license at www.taylorfrancis.com
"... a welcome addition to the literature." --Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences "... ideologically diverse selection of readings... "--Times Literary Supplement (London) "The essays are balanced, challenging, well-argued, and well-written. They ably and accessibly represent feminist contributions to medical ethics... " --Religious Studies Review "... fascinating... thought-provoking... " --Nursing Times "A stimulating book for those women and men (feminist and non-feminist) interested in medical ethics." --Maternal and Child Health "... landmark [event] in bioethics... " --Women & Health The aim of this volume is to show how a feminist perspective advances biomedical ethics by uncovering inconsistencies in traditional argument and by arguing for the importance of hitherto ignored factors in decision making. These essays include both theory and very specific examples that demonstrate the glaring inadequacy of mainstream medical ethics.
This collection brings together fourteen contributions by authors from around the globe. Each of the contributions engages with questions about how local and global bioethical issues are made to be comparable, in the hope of redressing basic needs and demands for justice. These works demonstrate the significant conceptual contributions that can be made through feminists' attention to debates in a range of interrelated fields, especially as they formulate appropriate responses to developments in medical technology, global economics, population shifts, and poverty. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Drawing on postmodernist analyses, Leaky Bodies and Boundaries presents a feminist investigation into the marginalization of women within western discourse that denies female moral agency and embodiment. With reference to contemporary and historical issues in biomedicine, the book argues that the boundaries of both the subject and the body are no longer secure. The aim is both to valorise women and to suggest that 'leakiness' may be the very ground for a postmodern feminist ethic. The contribution made by Leaky Bodies and Boundaries is to go beyond modernist feminisms to radically displace the mechanisms by which women are devalued. The anxiety that postmodernism cannot yield an ethics, nor advance feminist concerns is addressed. This book will provide invaluable reading for those studying feminist philosophy, cultural studies and sociology.
No other cluster of medical issues affects the genders as differently as those related to procreation—contraception, sterilization, abortion, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and genetic screening. Yet the moral diversity among feminists has led to political fragmentation, foiling efforts to create policies that are likely to serve the interests of the largest possible number of women. In this remarkable book, Rosemarie Tong offers an approach to feminist bioethics that serves as a catalyst, bringing together varied perspectives on choice, control, and connection. Emphasizing the complexity of feminist debates, she guides feminists toward consensus in thought, cooperation in action, and a world that would have no room for domination and subordination. Tong fairly and comprehensively presents the traditions of both feminist and nonfeminist ethics and bioethics. Although feminist approaches to bioethics derive many insights from nonfeminist ethics and bioethics, Tong shows that their primary source of inspiration is feminist ethics, leading feminist bioethicists to ask the so-called woman question in order to raise women’s consciousness about the systems, structures, and relationships that oppress them. Feminist bioethicists are, naturally, committed to acting locally in the worlds of medicine and science. But their different feminist voices must also be raised at the policy table in order to make gender equity a present reality rather than a mere future possibility. Inability to define a plan that guarantees liberation for all women must not prevent feminists from offering a plan that promises to improve the welfare of many women. Otherwise, a perspective less appealing to women may fill the gap.
