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Reconceiving Reproduction: Removing "Rearing" From the Definition—and What This Means for ART.
- Source :
- Journal of Bioethical Inquiry; Mar2024, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p117-129, 13p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- The predominant position in the reproductive rights literature argues that access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) forms part of an individual's right to reproduce. On this reasoning, refusal of treatment by clinicians (via provision) violates a hopeful parent's reproductive right and discriminates against the infertile. I reject these views and suggest they wrongly contort what reproductive freedom entitles individuals to do and demand of others. I suggest these views find their origin, at least in part, in the way we define "reproduction" itself. This paper critically analyses two widely accepted definitions of human reproduction and demonstrates that both are fundamentally flawed. While the process of reproduction includes the biological acts of begetting and bearing a child, I argue that it does not extend to include rearing. This reworked definition has little impact in the realm of sexual reproduction. However, it has significant ethical implications for the formulation and assignment of reproductive rights and responsibilities in the non-sexual realm in two important ways. First, a claim to access ART where one has an intention to rear a child (but does not beget or bear) cannot be grounded in reproductive rights. Second, lacking an intention to rear does not extinguish the reproductive rights and responsibilities for those who collaborate in the process. I conclude that clinicians collaborate in non-sexual reproduction at the point of triggering conception (begetting) and therefore have the right to refuse to be involved in non-sexual reproduction, in some instances, as do all reproductive collaborators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- INFERTILITY treatment
HEALTH services accessibility
INTERPROFESSIONAL relations
REFUSAL to treat
BIOETHICS
DECISION making in clinical medicine
HUMAN reproductive technology
HUMAN reproduction
CHILD rearing
INTENTION
PHYSICIAN-patient relations
REPRODUCTIVE rights
PATIENT refusal of treatment
MEDICAL ethics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 11767529
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176909771
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-023-10281-4