Abstract
Umbilical cord blood banking is one of many biomedical innovations that confront pregnant women with new choices about what they should do to secure their own and their child’s best interests. Many mothers can now choose to donate their baby’s umbilical cord blood (UCB) to a public cord blood bank or pay to store it in a private cord blood bank. Donation to a public bank is widely regarded as an altruistic act of civic responsibility. Paying to store UCB may be regarded as a “unique opportunity” to provide “insurance” for the child’s future. This paper reports findings from a survey of Australian women that investigated the decision to either donate or store UCB. We conclude that mothers are faced with competing discourses that force them to choose between being a “good mother” and fulfilling their role as a “good citizen.” We discuss this finding with reference to the concept of value pluralism.
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Notes
In an allogeneic transplant, a person receives tissue (in this case, cord blood stem cells) from someone else (i.e., a donor). Current scholarship documents the success of allogeneic transplantation in the treatment of various malignant and nonmalignant conditions (Armson 2005; Gluckman et al. 2011).
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The authors disclose receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC Project Grant number 512416). The authors would like to thank the contribution of researcher Michelle O’Connor for her work on data collection, analysis and editorial assistance.
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Porter, M., Kerridge, I.H. & Jordens, C.F.C. “Good Mothering” or “Good Citizenship”?. Bioethical Inquiry 9, 41–47 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-011-9343-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-011-9343-x