Reproductive Technologies: Does Choice Mean Freedom?
"One does not, it might be said, increase a person's freedom simply by
increasing the sheer quantity of possibilities which he or she can choose from."
n Richard Norman
The issue of reproductive technologies in our society today raises an
interesting question. Do they increase a women's freedom of choice or do they
expand the power of men and science over women. Is freedom to choose what they
can do with their bodies truly freedom. Freedom, as a core, is the absence of
external impediment. In this sort of area can women truly be free of external
impediment, also is this truly freedom of choice? "The range of physical
possibilities from which a person can choose at a given moment has no direct
relevance to freedom…Whether a person is free or not does not depend on the
range of choice." (Haylek 1960, p.12f). This subject is so socially charged
that a women could not possibly have true freedom of choice but a choice which
is basically decided for her, whether it be by the limited choices made
available to her by medical science or by the men which are directly involved
with them in the decision.
In order to truly understand this issue we must look at it's core,
reproductive technology. This is a vast area to discuss because it ranges from
artificial insemination to abortion to contraception to genetic engineering with
many area in between.
Artificial insemination is the introduction of sperm to an ovum
artificially either inside or outside the female genital tract. Abortion is the
"extermination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life."
Birth control is a huge area of reproductive or contraceptive technology, in
effect though all sub areas of this main area deal with the prevention of
fertilization of the ovum or egg, also in some cases such as the condom it can
stop the spread of disease. Genetic engineering is a new and extremely scary
technology which hopes to enable the precise engineering of an unborn child.
The previous examples are just some of the areas of reproductive
technologies but they are sufficient to cover the basic scope of the issue.
What is freedom. In the Webster's dictionary the definition is "The
state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical
restraint". This is the core of freedom but to truly understand freedom one
must define it with much more detail. two people who have concentrated their
efforts on the subject of freedom are Norman and Haylek. Norman feels that
freedom is equated to the absence of social pressure yet the possession of
freedom as long as one does not disturb others in their state of nature; in this
Conception is the action of conceiving a child or of a child being conceived. Every human being begins life as a single cell, formed when father's sperm fertilizes mother's egg. Fertilization normally takes place in the mother's Fallopian tube, which connects the uterus (womb) with the ovary. The uterus is the size and shape of a large pear: it is made of muscle and it stretches to allow the baby's growth throughout the months of pregnancy.
The Progressive Era was a period of social and political reform beginning in the post Gilded Age 19th century and lasting through WWI. Industrial and urban growth of early 19th century America while representative of opportunity and future advancement simultaneously posed many difficulties for working class citizens. Prior concerns over the conditions of working class citizens were multiplied and magnified by overpopulated and impoverished urban communities. During this era many new Progressive agendas were introduced with the goal of reforming dated and unregulated policies, the most prominent of these, the birth control movement. The documents from chapter six of Constructing the American Past show that at its core, the birth control debate was a multifaceted social dispute with, religious political and racial influences.
In conclusion, even though our society would like to believe that women have always had equal liberties (with men) in everything they do, we can see this is not the case. Throughout human history, woman has believed she is inferior to man, however, now with our civilization progressing in the women’s right movement everyday, women can finally come to terms with the fact that they are indeed equal to men.
There are many definitions of the term "freedom." Some will say that to be free one must be allowed to do as one pleases in terms of one's physical body, while others will say that one must only be able to think to be truly free. Yet another group will argue that both aspects must be present for true freedom to exist.
The addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
The Morality of Birth control originally surfaced as a pamphlet in 1918, which questioned the morality of denying knowledge surrounding a drug which could prevent pregnancy women. In 1913 Margaret Sanger worked as a nurse in a New York. There Sanger watched one woman fall ill from a household abortion. The doctor told this women to avoid pregnancy she should “have her husband sleep on the roof” (Richmond Edu, Par. 7). A few months later Sanger found the same women dead after a second self-inflicted abortion. This horrendous event pushed Sanger to advocate a right she believed all woman should have.
As women, it is important to remember that the reproductive freedoms we now have can be easily taken away. Some people take for granted the accessibility to birth control, condoms, and abortion. President Bush has initiated policies since coming into office that threaten women’s choices. As the Bush administration takes over, it is important for women and men to come together to support women’s rights. “Bush is setting a tone for anti-choice legislation, so I expect that any legislator who is anti-choice will put something in this year,” said Jessica Morgan, president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Organization for Women (Koenig, B2). Legislative, executive, and judicial action can very possibly come together during this administration to limit or eliminate women’s reproductive freedom.
The right to control one’s own body was at the heart of the feminist health movement and was interpreted by feminists to mean possessing knowledge about how their bodies functioned, having the power to make informed decisions about their bodies, and being treated with dignity and respect by the medical establishment.
...of society. If women want to take control of their own lives and are tired of "proving"themsleves to others, they must first find a voice and then act upon their convictions, otherwise these gender roles will never change.
Test tube babies have long been stigmatized by society as the unnatural results of scientific dabbling. The words `test tube baby' have been used by school children as an insult, and many adults have seen an artificial means of giving birth as something perhaps only necessary for a lesbian woman, or a luxury item only available to the elite few. The reality is that assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been helping infertile couples have children since 1978.1 The methods of in vitro fertilization, it's variants, and the other ART procedures are ways for persons that would otherwise have no hope of conception to conceive and, in a rapidly growing percentage of cases, give birth to healthy babies. As the technology has developed, the quality and range of assistance has developed as well. At present, the means of assisted reproduction and the capabilities of these procedures has grown at a somewhat dizzying pace. However, thought to the repercussions of the applications of ART are being disregarded to some extent while the public's knowledge and the understanding of embryologists and geneticists surges forward. It is possible given consideration to things such as the morality of these techniques, the unexplored alternative uses of these procedures, and the potential impact they posses that further development is unnecessary and possibly dangerous.
Women’s reproductive rights are a global issue in today’s world. Women have to fight to have the right to regulate their own bodies and reproductive choices, although in some countries their voices are ignored. Abortion, sterilization, contraceptives, and family planning services all encompass this global issue of women’s reproductive rights.
Our Nation was built on the ideas of freedom and independence. With that concept, I believe that our government needs to trust that women have the capability to choose what is best for their future. Our society should respect women’s independence and grant them the freedom to decide what is right. This issue is important to me because history has shown that restricting abortions, not only undermines women, but can also be very dangerous.
With every new technology that is born, there must be many questions as to whether this technology is beneficial or harmful as well as analyze who is affects. This especially holds true in dealing with the technology of artificial insemination. With the cultural mainstreaming of artificial insemination, there have been many articles written discussing the ethics of such decisions. Most of these articles are written by feminist authors with the purpose of discussing the impact of this new technology on women and how it affects their roles as mothers in society.