Degendering reproduction?

Medical Law Review

Volumn 16, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 346-368

  Jackson, Emily ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; FEMALE; FEMINISM; HUMAN; INDUCED ABORTION; INFERTILITY THERAPY; LEGAL ASPECT; MALE; PHYSIOLOGY; PREGNANCY; REPRODUCTION; REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS; WOMEN'S RIGHTS;

ABORTION, INDUCED; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; FEMALE; FEMINISM; HUMANS; MALE; PREGNANCY; REPRODUCTION; REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS; REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES, ASSISTED; WOMEN'S RIGHTS;

EID: 55149087043     PISSN: 09670742     EISSN: 14643790     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/medlaw/fwn016     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. For a radical perspective, see S. Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex (The Woman's Press 1979).
2. [2001] 3 W.L.R. 376, C.A.
3. J.L. Hill, 'What Does It Mean to Be a "Parent"? The Claims of Biology as the Basis for Parental Rights' (1991) 66 New York University Law Review 353.
4. See also M.M. Shultz, 'Reproductive Technology and Intent-based Parenthood: An Opportunity for Gender Neutrality' (1990) 2 Wisconsin Law Review 297
5. M. Johnson, 'A Biomedical Perspective on Parenthood' in A. Bainham et al. (eds.), What Is a Parent: A Socio-legal Analysis (Hart 1999) at 47.
6. See, for example, R. Collier and S. Sheldon (eds.), Fathers' Rights Activism and Law Reform in Comparative Perspective (Hart 2006).
7. S. Welin, 'Reproductive Ectogenesis: The Third Era of Human Reproduction and Some Moral Consequences' (2004) 10 Science and Engineering Ethics 615-626.
8. In 2005, there were 41,932 cycles of IVF in the UK, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Find a Clinic (2007) http://www.hfea.gov.uk/en/1626.html (accessed on 8 January 2008).
9. K. Nayernia et al., 'In vitro-differentiated Embryonic Stem Cells Give Rise to Male Gametes That Can Generate Offspring Mice' (2006) 11 Developmental Cell 125-132
10. Nayernia et al., 'Derivation of Male Germ Cells from Bone Marrow Stem Cells' (2006) 86 Laboratory Investigation 654-663.
11. See further, Z. Master, 'Embryonic Stem-cell Gametes: The New Frontier Human Reproduction' (2006) 21 Human Reproduction 857-863.
12. A.J. Newson and A.C. Smajdor, 'Artificial Gametes: New Paths to Parenthood?' (2005) 31 Journal of Medical Ethics 184-186.
13. See, for example, A. Smajdor, 'The Moral Imperative for Ectogenesis' (2007) 16 Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 336-345.
14. A. Alghrani, 'The Legal and Ethical Ramifications of Ectogenesis' (2007) 2 Asian Journal of WTO & International Health Law and Policy 189-211.
15. D. Dickenson, Property, Women and Politics: Subjects or Objects (Polity 1997) at 156.
16. J. Robertson, 'Resolving Disputes over Frozen Embryos' (1989) 7 Hastings Center Report 7.
17. Evans v. Amicus Healthcare and others [2004] EWCA CIV 727
18. Evans v. United Kingdom (10 April 2007) ECtHR Grand Chamber, App no. 6339/05.
19. For an insightful analysis, see S. Sheldon 'Gender Equality and Reproductive Decision-making' (2004) 12 Feminist Legal Studies 303-306.
20. See further, HFEA Briefing Egg Freezing (http://www.hfea.gov.uk/en/1426.html; accessed on 31 January 2008).
21. S. Sheldon, 'Case Commentary: Revealing Cracks in the "twin Pillars"?' (2004) 16 Child and Family Law Quarterly 437.
22. HFEA, op. cit. n. 16.
23. Sheldon, op. cit., n. 17.
24. K. Hübner et al., 'Derivation of Oocytes from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell' (2003) 3000 Science 1251-1256.
25. Nayernia et al., op. cit. n. 7; S. O'Connor, 'The Prospect of All-female Conception' (2007) The Independent, 13 April.
26. P. Aldhous, 'Male Eggs and Female Sperm' (2008) New Scientist, 2 February.
27. E. Jackson, 'The Donation of Eggs for Research and the Rise of Neopaternalism' in M. Freeman (ed.), Law and Bioethics (2008).
28. Of course, it is possible to take sperm or eggs from someone who is unconscious, as happened to Stephen Blood, but the consent provisions of the 1990 Act mean that this should not happen. See R v. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ex parte Blood. [1997] 2 W.L.R. 806, where Lord Woolf M.R. stated 'there should be, after this judgment has been given, no further cases where sperm is preserved without consent'.
29. th Code of Practice, Para 1.19.6, before donors give consent to donation of their embryos for use in the research project, they must be given oral information supported by relevant written material which confirms... (d) (vii) that once an embryo has been used in the project of research the donors have no control over any future use of the embryonic cells and any stem cell lines derived. (http://cop.hfea.gov.uk/ cop/COPContent.aspx?M=3&S=0&SM=288#content; accessed on 31 January 2008).
30. Laurence Tribe, Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (Norton 1992) at 223.
31. M. Dan-Cohen, 'Harmful Thoughts' (1999) 18 Law and Philosophy 379-405 at 394.
32. Ibid, at 402.
33. See further, M. Henderson, 'Ministers Will Rethink Bill That Could Block Stem-cell Experiments' (2008) The Times, 22 January. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3228188.ece; accessed on 31 January 2008).
34. H. Mertes and G. Pennings, 'Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Gametes and Genetic Parenthood: A Problematic Relationship' (2008) 17 Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (2008) 7-14 at 12.
35. In 2003, Sacha Zimmerman wrote 'researchers estimate that ectogenesis could be a reality within five years' - 'Development of Artificial Wombs: Technology's Threat to Abortion Rights' (2003) San Francisco Chronicle, 24 August.
36. See also R. McKie, 'Men Redundant? Now We Don't Need Women Either' (2002) The Observer, 10 February.
37. J. Knight, 'Artificial Wombs: An Out of Body Experience' (2002) 419 Nature 106-107.
38. Ibid.
39. Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 s.1(2).
40. See further, Science and Technology Committee, Twelfth Report Scientific Developments Relating to the Abortion Act 1967 (2007). http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/ 1045/104502.htm (accessed on 5 November 2007).
41. Knight, op. cit., n.32.
42. See http://www.obgyn.net/displaytranscript.asp?page=/avtranscripts/ asrm2001-liu (accessed on 2 November 2007). Quoted in Irina Aristarkhova, 'Ectogenesis and Mother as Machine' (2005) 11 Body and Society 43-59 at 46.
43. Aristarkhova, ibid.
44. J. Rifkin, 'The End of Pregnancy' (2002) The Guardian, 17 January.
45. See, for example, Smajdor, op. cit., n. 10.
46. Firestone, op. cit., n. 1 at 11.
47. Ibid, at 12.
48. A. Oakley, Woman's Work: The Housewife Past and Present (Pantheon 1974).
49. See, for example, A. Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution (Norton 1976).
50. As Wilkinson and Karpin and Mykitiuk note in their papers, 'Sexism, Sex Selection, and 'Family Balancing'' and 'Going Out on a Limb: Prosthetics, Normalcy and Disputing the Therapy/Enhancement Distinction', respectively (this volume), this observation is also true of other reprotechnologies such as PGD.
51. R. Gosden, Designer Babies, the Brave New World of Reproductive Technology (Victor Gollancz 1999) at 179.
52. Ibid.
53. E. McDonagh, Breaking the Abortion Deadlock: From Choice to Consent (OUP 1996) at 22.
54. B. Katz Kothman, Reinventing Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchal Society (Norton 1989) at 114.
55. R. Pollack Petchesky, 'Fetal Images: The Power of Visual Culture in the Politics of Reproduction' (1987) 13 Feminist Studies 263.
56. I. Karpin, 'Legislating the Female Body: Reproductive Technology and the Reconstructed Woman' (1992) 325 Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 333-334.
57. P. Singer and D. Wells, The Reproduction Revolution: New Ways of Making Babies (OUP 1984) at 135
58. J. Jarvis Thomson, 'A Defence of Abortion' (1971) 1 Philosophy and Public Affairs 47.
59. Thomson, ibid.
60. L. Cannold, 'Women, Ectogenesis and Ethical Theory' (1995) 12 Journal of Applied Philosophy 55-64.
61. Ibid.
62. Abortion Statistics. http://www.dn.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/ Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_075697 (accessed on 2 November 2007).
63. D. James, 'Ectogenesis: A Keply to Singer and Wells' (1987) 1 Bioethics 80 at 87.
64. St George's NHS Trust v. S [1999] Fam 26.
65. On the importance of breathing and other bodily functions, see Fletcher, Fox and McCandless 'Legal Embodiment: Analysis the Body of Healthcare Law' (this volume).
66. E. Jackson, Regulating Reproduction (Hart 2001) at 72.
67. Hyun Jee Son, 'Artificial Wombs, Frozen Embryos and Abortion: Reconciling Viability's Doctrinal Ambiguity' (2005) 14 UCLA Women's Law Journal 21.3.
68. Abortion Act 1967 s.1(1)(1).
69. I am grateful to the Medical Law Review's anonymous referee for this point.
70. Nancv K. Rhoden, 'Trimesters and Technology: Revamping Roe v Wade' (1986) 95 Yale L.J. 639 at 663.
71. Akron v. Center for Reproductive Health (1983) 462 U.S. 416.
72. Abortion Act 1967 s.1(1)(b)-(d).
73. Rhoden, op. cit., n. 64, at 698.
74. Jackson, op cit., n. 60, chapter 4.
75. E. Martin, 'The Fetus as Intruder: Mother's Bodies and Medical Metaphors' in R. Davis-Floyd and J. Dumit (eds), Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots (Routledge 1998) at 125-142 at 131.