Uterus transplants and the insufficient value of gestation

Uterus transplants provide another treatment for infertility. Some might think that we should embrace such transplants as one more way to assist people to have children. However, in this paper I argue that uterus transplants are not something that we ought to fund, nor something that we should make...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McTernan, Emily (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2018]
In: Bioethics
Year: 2018, Volume: 32, Issue: 8, Pages: 481-488
IxTheo Classification:NCH Medical ethics
Further subjects:B Pregnancy
B fertility treatment
B assisted reproductive technologies
B uterus transplantation
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Uterus transplants provide another treatment for infertility. Some might think that we should embrace such transplants as one more way to assist people to have children. However, in this paper I argue that uterus transplants are not something that we ought to fund, nor something that we should make easy to access. First, I argue that any justification of providing uterus transplants must be based on the value of the experience of gestation, rather than on claims of meeting medical need or promoting normal functioning. Second, I demonstrate that such a justification has limited prospects of success. The value of experiencing gestation is unlikely to be sufficient to justify state funding of uterus transplants and, further, we have reason to refrain from enabling such transplants.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12523