Narrative artifice and women's agency

Bioethics

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 93-111

  Kalbian, Aline H ^a  

^a FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ASSISTED REPRODUCTION; ETHICS; FERTILITY; GENDER; HEALTH BEHAVIOR; HUMAN; INFERTILITY THERAPY; REPRODUCTIVE PROCEDURES; REVIEW; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR;

ANALYTICAL APPROACH; GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION;

COERCION; ETHICAL ANALYSIS; ETHICAL THEORY; FEMALE; FEMINISM; HUMANS; INFERTILITY; NARRATION; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; POSTMODERNISM; REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES, ASSISTED; TREATMENT REFUSAL; WOMEN;

EID: 17344369423     PISSN: 02699702     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2005.00428.x     Document Type: Review

References (43)

1. Not all who use ARTs are infertile. In this paper, I focus primarily on that category of ART users and narrow the focus even further to women. I realize that in doing so I ignore the experiences of many, including lesbian and gay couples. My sense is that while much in this paper could be relevant to their experience, a different analysis is needed to do those particular experiences justice.
2. C. Mackenzie & N. Stoljar. 2000. Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self. New York. Oxford University Press: 3.
3. Mackenzie and Stoljar claim that 'relational autonomy' is not 'a simple unified conception of autonomy but is rather an umbrella term.' Ibid. p. 4.
4. I realize that while frameworks clarify complex issues, they can also be overly reductionistic. Hence, I pose this framework with some caution.
5. For the official Catholic document that outlines the position on ARTs, see Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Donum Vitae. http://www.vatican.va/ roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_ respect-for-human-life_en.html
6. There are several references in Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem that support this view. John Paul II. 1988. Mulieris Dignitatem. Boston. Daughters of St. Paul.
7. See M. Duenwold, After 25 Years, New Ideas in the Prenatal Test Tube. New York Times article about improved success rates for FVF.
8. See S. Franklin. 1990. 'Deconstructing Desperateness': The Social Construction of Infertility in Popular Representations of New Reproductive Technologies. In The New Reproductive Technologies. M. McNeil, I. Varcoe & S. Yearly, eds. London. MacMillan: 200-229.
9. See, H.L. Nelson, ed. 1997. Stories and Their Limits: Narrative Approaches to Bioethics. New York. Routledge.
10. For a good study of the issues of trust and reliance and the important connection between trust and moral integrity see, C. McLeod. 2002. Self-Trust and Reproductive Autonomy. Cambridge, MA. The MIT Press.
11. P. Beattie Jung. 1997. What Price Fertility? In Infertility: A Crossroad of Faith, Medicine, and Technology. K.W. Wildes, ed. Boston. Kluwer: 173.
12. A. Frank. 1997. Enacting Illness Stories: When, What, and Why. In Stories and Their Limits: Narrative Approaches to Bioethics. H.L. Nelson, ed. New York, Routledge: 33.
13. I b i d.
14. th Edition. New York. Oxford University Press: 59.
15. S. Dodds. 2000. Choice and Control in Feminist Bioethics. In Relational Anatomy: Perspectives on Anatomy, Agency and the Social Self. C. MacKenzie & N. Stoljer, eds. New York. Oxford University Press.
16. A. Frank. 1995. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. Chicago. University of Chicago Press: 55.
17. Frank, op. cit. note 9, p. 31.
18. Frank, op. cit. note 11, p. 2.
19. Ibid. p. 7.
20. Frank, op. cit. note 9, p. 83.
21. Frank, op. cit. note 11, p. 115.
22. C. Cussins. 1998. Producing Reproduction: Techniques of Normalization and Naturalization in Infertility Clinics. In Reproducing Reproduction: Kinship, Power, and Technological Innovation. S, Franklin & H. Ragone, eds, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 76.
23. There are numerous cultural and ethical dimensions to Internet discussions. As Martin Kavka pointed out to me in conversations, these discussions presuppose anonymity; yet it seems that the process of telling one's story enables the participant to forge and identity.
24. S. Franklin. 1997. Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception. London. Routledge Press.
25. Ibid. p. 192.
26. E. Bartholet. 1999. Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production. Boston. Beacon Press: 192.
27. Cussins, op. at. note 17, p. 75.
28. Ibid. p. 76.
29. Frank, op. at. note 11, p. 16.
30. H. Nelson. 2001. Damaged Identities Narrative Repair. Ithaca. Cornell University Press: 22.
31. I b i d.
32. Ibid. p. xi.
33. Ibid. p. 169.
34. Frank, op. cit. note 9, p. 34.
35. C. McLeod & S. Sherwin. 2000. Relational Autonomy, Self-Trust, and Health Care for Patients Who Are Oppressed. In Relational Autonomy: Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self. C. Mackenzie & N. Stoljar, eds. New York. Oxford University Press: 261.
36. D. Meyers. 2000. Intersectional Identity and the Authentic Self?: Opposites Attract! In Relational Autonomy: Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self. C. Mackenzie and N. Stoljar, eds. New York. Oxford University Press: 151-180.
37. McLeod and Sherwin, op. cit. note 34.
38. See M. Griffiths 1995. Feminisms and the Self: The Web of Identity. New York: Routledge.
39. A. Donchin. Feminist Critiques of New Fertility Technologies: Implications for Social Policy. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 1996; 21 (5): p. 481.
40. Ibid. p. 486.
41. Prominent examples include W.F. May. 1991. The Patient's Ordeal Bloomington. Indiana University Press, and E.D. Pellegrino and D.C. Thomasma. 1993. The Virtues in Medical Practice. New York. Oxford University Press.
42. Prominent examples include W.F. May. 1991. The Patient's Ordeal Bloomington. Indiana University Press, and E.D. Pellegrino and D.C. Thomasma. 1993. The Virtues in Medical Practice. New York. Oxford University Press.
43. The idea for this paper emerged from my participation in the 2000 NEH Summer Seminar, 'Bioethics in Particular' directed by James L. Nelson and Hilde Lindemann Nelson. I am indebted to them for their help and guidance with early versions of this paper and for providing a stimulating environment for thinking through these issues. I want to thank Allyson Robichaud who encouraged me to keep working on this paper and Lorraine Landry for suggesting the title! Lois Shepherd's insightful comments on an early draft helped me clarify much of this paper, and conversations with Martin Kavka got me through at the end.