Abstract

Reproductive autonomy is often used as an argument to offer assisted reproduction services to women and to continue research into improving this service. What is often overlooked, however, is the gendered and normative background of parenthood, especially of motherhood. In this paper, I attempt to make women visible and to listen to their voices. Turning to the women's stories, the ethical perspective might be reversed: the so-called 'side-effects' of the overall successful assisted reproduction with or without genetic diagnosis, are to be considered the 'main effects' of assisted reproduction--true for the majority of couples and women. Autonomy, then, must be reformulated as concept of moral agency in the context of divergent social contexts and cultures of parenthood, of socially shaped images of disability, and in the context of scientific visions of technology which do not necessarily match with the medical practice.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call