TY - JOUR
T1 - A cross-cultural analysis of posthumous reproduction
T2 - The significance of the gender and margins-of-life perspectives
AU - Hashiloni-Dolev, Yael
AU - Schicktanz, Silke
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive critical comments. Our thanks go as well to thank Marthe Eisner in Göttingen, Germany, and Sharon Hagbi in Tel-Aviv, Israel, for their helpful research assistance. This work has been supported by an institutional grant from the Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo, and a Senior Research Fellowship from Lichtenberg-Kolleg, University of Göttingen’s Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Germany. We acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation and the Open Access Publication Funds of the Göttingen University. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev is a sociologist of health and illness and a member of Israel’s National Bioethics Council. Her areas of interest include new reproductive technologies, genetics, gender, bioethics, contemporary parenthood and posthumous reproduction. She has authored two books: A Life (Un)Worthy of Living: Reproductive Genetics in Israel and Germany (Springer, 2007) and The Fertility Revolution (Modan, 2013 [in Hebrew]), and published many articles on reprogenetics, sex selection, the moral status of the embryo, egg freezing and fertility decline. Silke Schicktanz is full-professor at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Goettingen. She is the author of Genetics as Social Practice: Transdisciplinary Views on Science and Culture (2014), and various peer articles about ethics and cultural differences in biomedicine.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s)
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - The scholarly discussion of posthumous reproduction (PHR) focuses on informed consent and the welfare of the future child, for the most part overlooking cultural differences between societies. Based on a cross-cultural comparison of legal and regulatory documents, analysis of pivotal cases and study of scholarly and media discussions in Israel and Germany, this paper analyses the relevant ethical and policy issues, and questions how cultural differences shape the practice of PHR. The findings challenge the common classifications of PHR by highlighting the gender perspective and adding brain-dead pregnant women to the debate. Based on this study's findings, four neglected cultural factors affecting social attitudes towards PHR are identified: (i) the relationship between the pregnant woman and her future child; (ii) what constitutes the beginning of life; (iii) what constitutes dying; and (iv) the social agent(s) seeking to have the future child. The paper argues that PHR can be better understood by adding the gender and margins-of-life perspectives, and that future ethical and practical discussions of this issue could benefit from the criteria emerging from this cross-cultural analysis.
AB - The scholarly discussion of posthumous reproduction (PHR) focuses on informed consent and the welfare of the future child, for the most part overlooking cultural differences between societies. Based on a cross-cultural comparison of legal and regulatory documents, analysis of pivotal cases and study of scholarly and media discussions in Israel and Germany, this paper analyses the relevant ethical and policy issues, and questions how cultural differences shape the practice of PHR. The findings challenge the common classifications of PHR by highlighting the gender perspective and adding brain-dead pregnant women to the debate. Based on this study's findings, four neglected cultural factors affecting social attitudes towards PHR are identified: (i) the relationship between the pregnant woman and her future child; (ii) what constitutes the beginning of life; (iii) what constitutes dying; and (iv) the social agent(s) seeking to have the future child. The paper argues that PHR can be better understood by adding the gender and margins-of-life perspectives, and that future ethical and practical discussions of this issue could benefit from the criteria emerging from this cross-cultural analysis.
KW - Germany
KW - Israel
KW - brain death
KW - ethics
KW - gender
KW - posthumous reproduction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030695182&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.rbms.2017.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.rbms.2017.03.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 29774263
AN - SCOPUS:85030695182
SN - 2405-6618
VL - 4
SP - 21
EP - 32
JO - Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online
JF - Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online
ER -