Article Text
Abstract
Reproductive autonomy is central to women’s welfare both because childbearing takes place in women’s bodies and because they are generally expected to take primary responsibility for child rearing. In 2005, the factors that influence their autonomy most strongly are poverty and belief systems that devalue such autonomy. Unfortunately, such autonomy is a low priority for most societies, or is anathema to their belief systems altogether. This situation is doubly sad because women’s reproductive autonomy is intrinsically valuable for women and also instrumentally valuable for the welfare of humankind. This paper takes for granted the moral and practical necessity of such autonomy and digs deeper into the question of what such a commitment might entail, focusing on the mid-level policy making that, at least in the US and Canada, plays a significant role in shaping women’s options. This paper examines a large teaching hospital’s policy on reduction of multifetal pregnancies. The policy permits reduction of triplets to twins, but not twins to a singleton. As there is no morally relevant difference between these two types of reduction, it is evident that inappropriate medicalisation can still limit women’s autonomy in undesirable ways.
- women’s rights
- abortion
- pregnancy reduction
- multifetal
- triplets
- twins
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
-
↵i For discussion of this point see my contribution to Feminism and Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction.11
-
↵ii For discussion of these issues contact the author to see my unpublished paper, Could there be a right not to be born an octuplet.
-
↵iii As it turned out, this particular policy revision became moot when the relevant services were moved to another hospital. I have no information about what became of it there.
Other content recommended for you
- Antenatal care for twin and triplet pregnancies: summary of NICE guidance
- Should pregnant women be charged for non-invasive prenatal screening? Implications for reproductive autonomy and equal access
- Increased risk of congenital heart disease in twins in the North of England between 1998 and 2010
- Fetal and infant death in mono- and dizygotic twins in England and Wales 1982–91
- Trends in the incidence and mortality of multiple births by socioeconomic deprivation and maternal age in England: population-based cohort study
- Twin pregnancy, fetal reduction and the 'all or nothing problem’
- Population based study of rates of multiple pregnancies in denmark, 1980-94
- IVF twins: buy one get one free?
- Issues for service providers: a response to points raised
- Country-specific estimates of unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence: a global comparative analysis of levels in 2015–2019