Skip to main content

Abstract

After introducing the concept of ectogenesis (artificial wombs), Kendal explores various arguments in favour of developing this technology from a liberal feminist perspective. The injustice of the unequal distribution of the physical, social and financial risks and burdens of human procreation is considered in the light of pronatalist dogma, which aims to encourage all women to become mothers, despite the numerous disadvantages associated with this choice. It is concluded that the option of ectogenesis is a necessary requirement for sexual equality in reproductive endeavours.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Mary Anne Warren, ‘Making Babies: The New Science and Ethics of Conception by Peter Singer; Deane Wells,’ Ethics 97, no. 1 (1986): 288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Leslie Cannold, ‘Women, Ectogenesis and Ethical Theory,’ Journal ofApplied Philosophy 12, no. 1 (1995): 56.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Julien S. Murphy, ‘Is Pregnancy Necessary? Feminist Concerns about Ectogenesis,’ Hypatia 4, no. 3 (1989): 66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kimberley F. Curtis, ‘Hannah Arendt, Feminist Theorizing, and the Debate over New Reproductive Technologies,’ Polity 28, no. 2 (1995): 162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Anna Smajdor, ‘The Moral Imperative for Ectogenesis,’ Cambridge Quarterly Healthcare Ethics 16, no. 3 (2007): 340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Peter Singer and Deane Wells, Making Babies: The New Science and Ethics of Conception ( New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985 ), 98

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gillian Lockwood, ‘Pregnancy, Autonomy and Paternalism,’ Journal of Medical Ethics 25, no. 6 (1999): 538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Maureen Sander-Staudt, ‘Of Machine Born? A Feminist Assessment of Ectogenesis and Artificial Wombs,’ in Ectogenesis: Artificial Womb Technology and the Future of Human Reproduction, eds Scott Gelfand and John R. Shook ( New York: Rodopi, 2006 ), 112.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Eran R. Horowitz, et al., ‘Women’s Attitudes toward Analgesia during Labor–A Comparison between 1995 and 2001,’ European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 117, no. 1 (2004): 31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. J. Hermanides, et al., ‘Failed Epidural: Causes and Management,’ British Journal of Anaesthesia 109, no. 2 (2012): 144. The authors note that incorrect catheter placement was responsible for half of these cases.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Amy L. O’Boyle, et al., ‘Informed Consent and Birth: Protecting the Pelvic Floor and Ourselves,’ American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 187, no. 4 (2002): 981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Patricia Kendall, et al., ‘Food Handling Behaviors of Special Importance for Pregnant Women, Infants and Young Children, the Elderly, and Immune-Compromised People,’ Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103, no. 12 (2003): 1648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tim Bayne and Avery Kolers, ‘Toward a Pluralist Account of Parenthood,’ Bioethics 17, no. 3 (2003): 238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jonathan Cohen, ‘The Pregnant Traveller,’ Medicine Today 9, no. 5 (2008): 65.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Marleen M.H.J. van Gelder, et al., ‘Teratogenic Mechanisms of Medical Drugs,’ Human Reproduction Update 16, no. 4 (2010): 379.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Leslie Sutton, ‘Fetal Surgery for Neural Tube Defects,’ Best Practice and Research Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 22, no. 1 (2008): 175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Gavin Dawe, et al., ‘Cell Migration from Baby to Mother,’ Cell Adhesion and Migration 1, no. 1 (2007): 19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution ( New York: William Morrow and Company, 1970 ), 198.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Diana Meyers, ‘The Rush to Motherhood: Pronatalist Discourse and Women’s Autonomy,’ Signs 26, no. 3 (2001): 747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Dorothy E. Roberts, ‘The Genetic Tie,’ The University of Chicago Law Review 62, no. 1 (1995): 240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Eileen Fischer, et al., ‘Pursuing Parenthood: Integrating Cultural and Cognitive Perspectives on Persistent Goal Striving,’ Journal of Consumer Research 34, no. 4 (2007): 428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Alena Heitlinger, ‘Pronatalism and Women’s Equality Policies,’ European Journal of Population 7, no. 4 (1991): 344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Ann Oakley, ‘Gender and Generation: The Life and Times of Adam and Eve,’ in Women and the Life Cycle: Transitions and Turning-Points, eds Patricia Allatt, Teresa Keil, Alan Bryman and Bill Bytheway ( Essex: Macmillan Press, 1987 ), 27.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Satoshi Kanazawa, ‘Intelligence and Childlessness,’ Social Science Research 48 (2014): 157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Harold Feldman, ‘A Comparison of Intentional Parents and Intentionally Childless Couples,’ Journal of Marriage and Family 43, no. 3 (1982): 598.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Lou Ann Patterson and John Defrain, ‘Pronatalism in High School Family Studies Texts,’ Family Relations 30, no. 2 (1981): 211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Madison Powers, ‘Privacy and Genetics,’ in A Companion to Genethics, eds Justine Burley and John Harris (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002 ), 368.

    Google Scholar 

  28. R.K. Sharma, et al., ‘Sperm DNA Damage and Its Clinical Relevance in Assessing Reproductive Outcome,’ Asian Journal of Andrology 6, no. 2 (2004): 140.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Debarun Majumdar, ‘Choosing Childlessness: Intentions of Voluntary Childlessness in the United States,’ Michigan Sociological Review 18 (2004): 111.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Linda R. Hirshman, Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World ( New York: Viking, 2006 ), 54.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Nancy Folbre, Who Pays for the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint ( London: Routledge, 1994 ), 104.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  32. Ruth Colker, Pregnant Men: Practice, Theory, and the Law ( Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994 ), 159.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Robyn Rowland, ‘Technology and Motherhood: Reproductive Choice Reconsidered,’ Signs 12, no. 3 (1987): 524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Carlo Bulletti, et al., ‘The Artificial Womb,’ Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1221 (2011): 127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. M. Jean Heriot, ‘Fetal Rights versus the Female Body: Contested Domains,’ Medical Anthropology Quarterly 10, no. 2 (1996): 179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Gregory Pence, ‘What’s So Good about Natural Motherhood? (In Praise of Unnatural Gestation),’ in Ectogenesis: Artificial Womb Technology and the Future of Human Reproduction, eds Scott Gelfand and John R. Shook ( New York: Rodopi, 2006 ), 85.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Gabor T. Kovacs, et al., ‘Embryo Donation at an Australian University In-Vitro Fertilisation Clinic: Issues and Outcomes,’ Medical Journal of Australia 178, no. 3 (2003): 127.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Amel Alghrani and Margaret Brazier, ‘What Is It? Whose It? Re-Positioning the Fetus in the Context of Research?’ Cambridge Law Journal 70, no. 1 (2011): 72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. C.M. Farquhar, et al., ‘A Comparative Analysis of Assisted Reproductive Technology Cycles in Australia and New Zealand 2004–2007,’ Human Reproduction 25, no. 9 (2010): 2281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 2015 Evie Kendal

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kendal, E. (2015). Introduction: The Need for Ectogenesis. In: Equal Opportunity and the Case for State Sponsored Ectogenesis. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137549877_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics