With her op-ed piece “Womb for Rent,” published in the Seattle Times (and earlier in the Washington Post), syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman enters the murky debate about reproductive technology gone global. Since Americans are outsourcing everything else, “Why not then rent a foreign womb?” (169) she asks. Goodman, a Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, is known for helping readers understand the “tumult of social change and its impact on families,” and for shattering “the mold of men writing exclusively about politics” (“Ellen Goodman”). This op-ed piece continues her tradition of examining social change from the perspective of family issues. Goodman launches her short piece by asserting that one of the most recent and consequential “jobs” to be outsourced is having babies. She explains how the “globalization of baby production” (169) is thriving because it brings together the reproductive desires of people in developed countries and the …show more content…
Only after reading the whole op-ed piece can readers see clearly that Goodman has been dropping hints about her view all along through her choice of words. Although she clearly sees how outsourcing surrogacy can help poor women economically, her use of market language such as “production,” “delivery,” and “labor” carry a double meaning. On first reading of this op-ed piece, readers don’t know if Goodman’s punning is meant to be catchy and entertaining or serves another purpose. This other purpose becomes clear in the last third of the article when Goodman forthrightly asserts her criticism of the commercialism of the global marketplace that promotes worldwide searching for a “cheaper deal”: “humanity is sacrificed to the economy and the person becomes the product” (170). This is a bold and big claim, but does the final third of her article support
In Lucinda Almond’s book, “The Abortion Controversy”, she gives us an excellent resource for research and debatable topics that will rouse students interested in the contemporary and controversial topic of abortion. Her book also allows us to explore many of the social, political, and economic controversies over
Page, Christina. How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Such are the ranges of Cesarean birthing experiences and corresponding women’s movements that will be explored alongside the politics of birth in this Birthquake research project.
In this crisis of citizenship, with no one quite sure of where s/he stands in relation to the norm, and everyone forced into an identity politics, the fetus represents the ideal citizen - utterly vulnerable and in need of government protection. Pro-life arguments describing fetuses as the ultimately silenced, victimized minority capitalize on the shifting meanings of citizenship to find a place for the fetus within it. By mixing the language of minority politics (asserting distinct identities of classes of people who are victimized by society) and Reaganite ideology (affirming the politicization of the private sphere overseen by the government (Berlant, 3), the pro-lifers constructed the fetus as an image of perfect vulnerability: "the unprotected person, the citizen without a country or a future, the fetus unjustly imprisoned in its mother's hostile gulag" (Berlant, 97). The fetus's vulnerability and minority status speaks to the plight of the newly distinguished class of normative citizens (usually white, straight, middle-class men).
...er analysis to reflections on economic desperation or injustices in the distribution of income or wealth. She also argues that some markets form and change societies and its citizens, and that because of that effect on our identities and personhood, some goods should not be for sale. Satz is able to convey her opinion in a concise manner as she uses the example of contract pregnancy and demonstrates how inequalities prevail in the market transactions. Satz shows how commodifying reproductive labor in society can reinforces gender inequality of status and promotes prejudices about the role of women in society. However, it is important to note that Satz argues that our negative reactions to noxious markets are not a result of any essential feature of such markets but rather, we react because of the social circumstances in which they operate, for example prostitution.
Over the course of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with regard to her reproductive rights.
The debate of abortion continues to be a controversial problem in society and has been around for many decades. According to Jone Lewis, “In the United States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820’s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy” (1). This indicates that the abortion controversy has been debated far back into American history. Beginning in the 1900’s, legalized abortion became a major controversy. In 1965, all fifty states in the United States banned abortion; however, that was only the beginning of the controversy that still rages today (Lewis 1). After abortion was officially banned in the United States, groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League worked hard on a plan to once again legalize abortion in the United States (Lewis 1). It wasn’t until 1970 when the case of Roe (for abortion) v. Wade (against abortion) was brought...
Charles Krauthammer affectively appeals to pathos with examples of how Planned Parent Hood speaks about the fetuses they abort and using their organs for sale or research. Krauthammer really grabs our emotions when he explains how a Planned Parenthood official discussed selling fetus organs over lunch in a “cold” and “jocular” way. Saying how her remarks “lacked compassion” (paragraph 2 Krauthammer). The official said she wanted to make enough money off the unborn child’s organs to buy a Lamborghini. She laughed.
Birth is a normal, physiological process, in which a woman’s body naturally prepares to expel the fetus within. It has occurred since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, childbirth has gradually evolved into what it is today - a highly managed whirlwind of unwarranted interventions. Jennifer Block, a journalist with over twelve years experience, has devoted herself to raising awareness regarding the authenticity of the Americanized standard of care in obstetrics, while guiding others to discover the truth behind the medical approach to birth in this country. In her book, Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, Jennifer Block brings forth startling truths concerning this country’s management of birth.
In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the development of children. In controlling the development of its children, China is also controlling the population levels. In any country, controlling the amount of children a single family can have can dramatically decrease the population levels. Just by having birth control pills and abortion clinics there for anybody to take advantage of shows that the involvement of either government is already too high.
Surrogacy is becoming extremely popular as a way for people to build their families and women to have a source of income. Many people have various reasons for their opposition to it whether it be by comparing it to prostitution or disagreeing with how military wives take advantage of the Tricare insurance. Lorraine Ali states in her article “The Curious Lives of Surrogates” that one of the more popular reasons to oppose surrogacy is that it contradicts, “what we’ve always thought of as an unbreakable bond between mother and child.” However, a woman’s inability to conceive her own children does not determine the absence of a mother to child bond.
[9] Shanley, M.L, Surrogate Mothering and Women's Freedom: A Critique of Contracts for Human Reproduction, (Politics and the Human Body) editors-Elshtain, J.B, and Cloyd J.T1995, Vanderbitt University Press, Tennessee back
A woman enters into a contract that consists on her getting pregnant with a strangers sperms, and after the baby is born, to give up the baby. The stranger is going to pay the medical expenses and $10,000 in exchange of claiming all the parental rights when the baby is born. The stranger is a good person who has not been able to have children on his own. Why does the morality of the action may seem doubtful? Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson wrote an essay called “is Women’s Labor a Commodity?” to explain in detail the reasons of commercial surrogacy being morally wrong. In her paper, Anderson explains that commercial surrogacy treats children and parental rights as objects that could be bought and sold for personal convenience. According to
“The Rights of Pregnant Women.” NARAL Pro-Choice America. 24 March 2004. <http://www.naral.org/Issues/pregnantwomen/> {unrestricted; internet publication}