Assisted reproduction, discrimination, and the law
by Michelle Weldon-Johns
Language: English
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY Routledge, 2020.
135 p.
ISBN: 9781138610040 ; 1138610046
Summary: The numbers of women undergoing Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) treatments have risen steadily, yet they remain largely outside the scope of equality and employment law protection while undergoing treatment. Assisted Reproduction, Discrimination, and the Law examines this gap in UK law, with reference to EU law as appropriate, and argues that new conceptions of equality are necessary. Drawing from the literature on multidimensional and intersectional discrimination, it is argued that an intersectionality approach offers a more useful analytical framework to extend protection to those engaged in ART treatments. Drawing from Schiek’s intersectional nodes model, the book critically examines two alternative interpretations of existing protected characteristics, namely infertility as a disability, with reference to the social model of disability and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, and redefining the boundaries of pregnancy and/or sex discrimination, with reference to attempts to extend associative discrimination to pregnancy. Comparisons are drawn with the US, where infertility has been recognised as a disability under the American’s with Disabilities Act 1990 and as a pregnancy-related condition under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978. A specific right to paid time off work to undergo treatment is also proposed, drawing comparisons with the US Family and Medical Leave Act 1993 and the existing UK work-family rights framework. It is argued that the reinterpretations of equality law and the rights proposed here are not only conceptually possible, but could practically be achieved with minor, but significant, amendments to existing legislation.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Assisted-Reproduction-Discrimination-Michelle-Weldon-Johns/dp/1138610046
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain
- Human reproductive technology -- Law and legislation
Designing babies : how technology is changing the ways we create children
by Robert Klitzman
Language: English
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020].
viii, 345 pages ; 25 cm.
ISBN: 9780190054472 ; 0190054476
Summary: Since the first "test-tube baby" was born over 40 years ago, In Vitro Fertilization and other Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) have advanced in extraordinary ways, producing millions of babies. An estimated 20% of American couples use infertility services to help them conceive, and that number is growing. Such technologies permit thousands of people, including gay and lesbian couples and single parents, to have offspring. Couples can now transmit or avoid passing on certain genes to their children, including those for chronic disease and, probably sometime soon, height and eye color as well. Prospective parents routinely choose even the sex of their future child and whether or not to have twins. The possibilities of this rapidly developing technology are astounding-especially in the United States, where the procedures are practically unregulated and a large commercial market for buying and selling human eggs is swiftly growing. New gene-editing technology, known as CRISPR, allows for even more direct manipulation of embryos' genes. As these possibilities are increasingly realized, potential parents, doctors, and policy-makers face complex and critical questions about the use-or possible misuse-of ARTs. Designing Babies confronts these questions, examining the ethical, social, and policy concerns surrounding reproductive technology. Based on in-depth interviews with providers and patients, Robert Klitzman explores how individuals and couples are facing quandaries of whether, when, and how to use ARTs. He articulates the full range of these crucial issues, from the economic pressures patients face to the moral and social challenges they encounter as they make decisions which will profoundly shape the lives of their offspring. In doing so, he reveals the broader social and biological implications of controlling genetics, ultimately arguing for closer regulation of procedures which affect the lives of generations to come and the future of our species as a whole.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Babies-Technology-Changing-Children/dp/0190054476/
Subjects:
- Human Reproductive Technology -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Infertility
- Genetic engineering
- Reproductive techniques, Assisted -- Ethics
- Reproductive techniques, Assisted -- Economics
A Portrait of Assisted Reproduction in Mexico : scientific, political, and cultural interactions
by Sandra P. González-Santos
Language: English
Cham Springer International Publishing Cham Palgrave Macmillan 2020 2020 ©2020.
1 volume : illustrations (black and white) ; 21 cm.
ISBN: 9783030230401 ; 3030230406
Summary: This book paints a comprehensive portrait of Mexico’s system of assisted reproduction first from a historical perspective, then from a more contemporary viewpoint. Based on a detailed analysis of books and articles published between the 1950s and 1980s, the first section tells the story of how the epistemic, normative, and material infrastructure of the assisted reproduction system was built. It traces the professionalization process of assisted reproduction as a medical field and the establishment of its professional association. Drawing on ethnographic material, the second part looks at how this system developed and flourished from the 1980s up to 2010, its commercialization process, how the expansion of reproductive services took place, and the messages regarding reproductive technologies that circulated within a wide discursive landscape. Given its scope and methods, this book will appeal to scholars interested in science and technology studies, reproduction studies, history of medicine, medical anthropology, and sociology.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Assisted-Reproduction-Mexico-Interactions/dp/3030230406
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- Mexico
- Human reproductive technology -- Social aspects -- Mexico
- Human reproductive technology
Access to assisted reproductive technologies : the case of France and Belgium
edited by Jennifer Merchant
Language: English
New York : Berghahn, 2020.
242 p. : cm.
ISBN: 9781789204315 ; 1789204313
Summary: Despite France and Belgium sharing and interacting constantly with similar culinary tastes, music and pop culture, access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies are strikingly different. Discrimination written into French law acutely contrasts with non-discriminatory access to ART in Belgium. The contributors of this volume are social scientists from France, Belgium, England, and the United States, representing different disciplines: law, political science, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology. Each author has attempted, through the prism of their specialties, to demonstrate and analyse how and why this striking difference in access to ART exists.
Available: https://www.amazon.com/Access-Assisted-Reproductive-Technologies-Reproduction/dp/1789204313/
Subjects:
- Human reproductive technology -- France.
- Human reproductive technology -- Belgium.
- Human reproductive technology -- Moral and ethical aspects.
