Reproductive donation is the most contentious area of assisted reproduction. Even within Europe there are wide variations in what is permitted in each country. This multi-disciplinary book takes a fresh look at the practices of egg, sperm and embryo donation and surrogacy, bringing together ethical analysis and empirical research. New evidence is offered on aspects of assisted reproduction and the families these create, including non-traditional types. One of the key issues addressed is should children be told of their donor origin? If they do learn the identity of their donor, what kinds of relationships may be forged between families, the donor and other donor sibling families? Should donation involve a gift relationship? Is intra-familial donation too close for comfort? How should we understand the growing trend for 'reproductive tourism'? This lively and informed discussion offers new insights into reproductive donation and the resulting donor families.

To what extent should parents be able to choose the kind of child they have? The unfortunate phrase 'designer baby' has become familiar in debates surrounding reproduction. As a reference to current possibilities the term is misleading, but the phrase may indicate a societal concern of some kind about control and choice in the course of reproduction. Typically, people can choose whether to have a child. They may also have an interest in choosing, to some extent, the conditions under which they do so, such as whether they have a child with a serious disability or disease. The purpose of this book is to explore the difficult and controversial question of the appropriate ethical and legal extent of reproductive autonomy in this context. The book examines ethical, legal and public policy issues in prenatal screening, prenatal diagnosis (PND), selective abortion and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). It explores the ethics of these selection practices and the ability of current ethical guidelines and legal mechanisms, including the law on selective abortion and wrongful birth, to deal with advances in genetic and other knowledge in these areas. Unlike in the United States, in England the relevant law is not inherently rights-based, but the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 inevitably raises questions about the proper scope of reproductive autonomy in this context. The implications of the analysis are considered for the development of relevant law, public policy and ethical guidelines and will be of interest to academics in medical law and ethics, health professionals, lawyers, those working on public policy and students with an interest in these issues.

Whether you're a newly diagnosed patient, or a friend or relative of someone suffering from benign prostate disease, this book offers help. The only text to provide the doctor's and patient's views, 100 Questions & Answers Prostate Disease gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about the disease, including diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment options, sources of support, and much more. Written by an expert on the subject, Dr. Kevin R. Loughlin, with actual patient commentary from John Nimmo, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone coping with the physical and emotional turmoil of prostate disease.

All persons, while different from one another, have the same value: this is the author's relatively uncontroversial starting point. Her end point is not uncontroversial: an ideal of justice as human flourishing, based on each person's unique set of capabilities. Because the book's focus is women's health care, gender justice, a necessary component of justice, is central to examination of the issues. Classical pragmatists and feminist standpoint theorists are enlisted in support of a strategy by which gender justice is promoted. Two features of the book are unique: (1) the topics presented cover the entire life span of women, not just those related to reproduction; (2) a range views about moral status are applied not only to fetuses but also to individuals already born. Attention to these features is intended to facilitate ethical consistency or moral integrity and respect for those who hold different moral views. While delineating and defending the book's perspective, the first section provides an overview of bioethics, critiques prevalent approaches to bioethics and models of the physician-patient relationship, and sketches distinguishing aspects of women's health care that are prevalently neglected. Positions about moral status are also presented. The second section identifies topics that are indirectly as well as directly related to women's health, such as domestic violence and caregiving. Brief cases illustrate variables relevant to each topic. Empirical and theoretical considerations follow each set of cases; these are intended to precipitate more expansive and critical examination of the issues raised. The last section is devoted to an egalitarian ideal that may be pursued throughan ethic of virtue or supererogation rather than obligation. By embracing this ideal, according to the author, moral agents support a more demanding level of morality than guidelines or laws require.

This book offers a comprehensive roadmap for determining when and how to regulate risky reproductive technologies on behalf of future children. First, it provides three benchmarks for determining whether a reproductive practice is harmful to the children it produces. This framework synthesizes and extends past efforts to make sense of our intuitive, but paradoxical, belief that reproductive choices can be both life-giving and harmful. Next, it recommends a process for reconciling the interests of future children with the reproductive liberty of prospective parents. The author rejects a blanket preference for either parental autonomy or child welfare and proposes instead a case-by-case inquiry that takes into account the nature and magnitude of the proposed restrictions on procreative liberty, the risk of harm to future children, and the context in which the issue arises. Finally, he applies this framework to four past and future medical treatments with above average risk, including cloning and genetic engineering. Drawing lessons from these case studies, Peters criticizes the current lack of regulatory oversight and recommends both more extensive pre-market testing and closer post-market monitoring of new reproductive technologies. His moderate, pragmatic approach will be widely appreciated.

In "The Garden of Fertility, "certified fertility educator Katie Singer explains how easy it is to chart your fertility signals to determine when you are fertile and when you are not. Her Fertility Awareness method can be used to safely and effectively prevent or help achieve pregnancy, as well as monitor gynecological health. Singer offers practical information, illuminated with insightful personal stories, for every woman who wants to learn to live in concert with her body and to take care of her reproductive health naturally.
"The Garden of Fertility "provides:
Directions (and blank charts) for charting your fertility signals Instructions for preventing pregnancy naturally - a method virtually as effective as the Pill, with none of its side effects. Guidelines for timing intercourse to enhance your chances of conceiving without drugs or hormones Information to help you use your charts to gauge your reproductive health - to determine whether you're ovulating; if you have a thyroid problem, low progesterone levels, or a propensity for PCOS or miscarriage; or if you're pregnant Nutritional and nonmedical strategies for strengthening your gynecological health Clear descriptions of reproductive anatomy, hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle, and how conception occurs

This book, by two of the most distinguished figures in fertility and reproduction research, answers all the most common questions about menaupause and andropause, and hormone resupplement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women. It offers explanations of all aspects of this subject, presenting balanced and reliable information about benefits, risks, and prospects for this field. Segal invented Norplant, the first long-term implantable contraceptive, and as the leader of Reproductive Biology at the Population Council, he orchestrated and coordinated the research and trials leading to basically every new contraceptive introduced over a period of about 25 years. Mastroianni did more than anyone else to develop in vitro fertizilation as a viable treatment option, and was for many years the chairman of the largest department of obstetrics and gynecology, and the director of the most successful IVF clinic. This book is unique in including coverage of the climacteric in men.

The concept of reproductive health promises to play a crucial role in improving health care provision and legal protection for women around the world. This is an authoritative and much-needed introduction to and defence of the concept of reproductive health, which though internationally endorsed, is still contested. The authors are leading authorities on reproductive medicine, women's health, human rights, medical law, and bioethics. They integrate their disciplines to provide an accessible but comprehensive picture. They analyse 15 cases from different countries and cultures, and explore options for resolution. The aim is to equip readers to fashion solutions in their own health care circumstances, compatibly with ethical, legal and human rights principles.

The sociological, medical, and historical aspects of birth control in the twentieth century have been compiled in this unique, easy-to-use, and comprehensive resource. Objectively written and international in scope, this encyclopedia covers a variety of topics: biology and anatomy, birth control methods and devices, influential people and organizations, issues and debates, religious perspectives, legal issues, perspectives from other countries. The Encyclopedia is an excellent source for students and other researchers, educators, health care professionals, and perennially high-interest topic. For students, expecially, the book will be invaluable for reports and term papers, speeches, and debates. The Encyclopedia contains more than 200 entries, a bibliography, and more than 50 photographs and charts. Entries end with a list of sources for further reading. Entries include BLAbortion BLAbstience BLBiological Methods of Contraception BLAnthony Comstock BLDalkon Shield BLMary Ware Dennett BLDepo-Provera BLFamily Planning BLGynecology BLInfanticide BLInternational Planned Parenthood Federation BLAletta Jacobs BLJudaism BLMale Contraceptives BLMenopause BLNorplant BLOral Contraceptives BLGregory Pincus BLPopulation Growth BLPoverty BLReproductive Rights BLJohn Rock BLRoe v. Wade BLRoman Catholic Church BLMargaret Higgins Sanger BLSex Education BLSexually Transmitted Diseases BLTubel Sterilization BLUnited Nations fund for Population Activities BLWorld Health Organization

This book gives an overview of the potential and the practical details that need to be resolved in order to make human germline engineering possible. It presents the ethical and social concerns, and implications of our fast-approaching capability to alter our own germline and take an active role in the future evolution of our own species. It provides explanations of how we have arrived at the capability to clone higher animals, and discusses the implications for human therapies and for our own future when these techniques are applied to the human germline.

This book describes in fascinating detail the history of the use of anesthesia in childbirth and in so doing offers a unique perspective on the interaction between medical science and social values. Dr. Donald Caton traces the responses of physicians and their patients to the pain of childbirth from the popularization of anesthesia to the natural childbirth movement and beyond. He finds that physicians discovered what could be done to manage pain, and patients decided what would be done. Dr. Caton discusses how nineteenth-century physicians began to think and act like scientists; how people learned to reject the belief that pain and suffering are inevitable components of life; and how a later generation came to think that pain may have important functions for the individual and society. Finally he shows the extent to which cultural and social values have influenced "scientific" medical decisions.

With the emergence of fertility declines in the greater part of the developing world, study of the phenomenon has increased profoundly over the last three decades, and a voluminous amount of literature has emerged. Yet our knowledge of the decline is scattered in numerous publications, making sources difficult to find. This bibliography provides a guide to the literature on fertility decline in Latin America, Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. It will be an invaluable asset for population experts and students wishing to do research on fertility decline. Covering the literature from 1960 to 1997, the book draws on extensive sources including books, articles in leading population journals, research papers, and dissertations. The opening chapter covers the literature on theories and concepts underlying fertility decline. The next three chapters are devoted to the major geographical areas--Latin America, Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa--and the final chapter looks at general literature on fertility declines in developing countries.

Many health problems are unique to, more common in, or more severe in women than men. This book examines the underpinnings of these gender differences. Sections deal with biological (hormonal, anatomic, immunologic, and pregnancy-related), social, behavioural/psychological, and lifestyle influences. Chapters are heavily referenced, packed full with data, and they provide methodological insights that will guide future women's health research.

This work provides insight into the subjective experience of stillbirth, miscarriage and pregnancy, and the professional response. It has grown out of interviews with women and with the range of health professionals who were significant in their care. These experiences are drawn upon to explore the dilemmas in offering good care, and to suggest ways in which practice might be improved.

Chronicling the shifts in public attitudes towards reproduction, this book traces attitudes from colonial times to the 1990s. In colonial days barrenness was associated with sin, from here the progression is traced to the laws of compulsory sterilization in the early twentieth century, the baby craze of the 1950s, the rise in voluntary childlessness in the 1990s, and the increasing reliance on reproductive technologies. The author reveals the intersection between public life and the most private part of life - sexuality, procreation, and the family.

"Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women is a crucial resource for all therapists who treat women. Not only will the information further the well-being of women clients, but it could literally save lives. Interesting, readable, and well-organized, this book belongs on the shelf next to the DSM-IV. The case examples will grip the reader whether professional or lay audience." --Natalie Porter, Ph.D., California School of Professional Psychology "I am greatly impressed with the book. It is a brand new idea, one that is long overdue." --Hannah Lerman, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Los Angeles Some clients don't respond to a therapist's chosen treatment for a specific mental disorder. Could there be a physical disorder that is causing psychiatric symptoms? How can a therapist distinguish between similar psychiatric and physical disorders to arrive at the correct diagnosis, refer on, and/or suggest appropriate treatment? Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women gives the therapist the foundation for identifying those physiological disorders that may be at the root of the mental problems presented by women clients. Hyperthyroidism, for example, can result in depression and anxiety, and temporal lobe epilepsy can manifest itself with the same symptoms as bipolar disorder. This special guidebook sorts out potential mix-ups by providing detailed cases and illustrations, a quick reference table for checking symptoms, and a glossary. Making technical information clear and concise, the authors cover endocrinological--including thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, and parathyroid systems--and brain seizure problems as well as other diseases--such as multiple sclerosis, mitral heart valve prolapse, and lupus erythematosus. They offer a basic overview of the systems and organs involved and focus on how particular malfunctions can result in serious behavioral problems. A guide to providing the best and most effective care to women clients, Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women presents important information about assessment and interfacing with medical professionals. All mental health and helping professionals will find this book invaluable, as will students in clinical/counseling psychology, health psychology, social work, and gender studies. "This book is informative and interesting to read. This is a text that can be read more than once and be that much more helpful in subsequent readings. . . . Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women will certainly have an impact on feminist assessment, theory, and therapy. In a broader context, it provides a foundation to spawn research hypotheses on women's health and to reconnect the mind and body. Written accessibly even for reader without a background in physiological psychology, it fills a gap in the clinical and counseling literature. This text has far-reaching implications about the origin of psychiatric symptoms and possibly for explaining some differential rates in sex ratios for prevalence of certain psychologically based clinical syndromes. I found the text a humbling reminder of how easy it can be to miss the obvious and how easy it can be to attribute psychological explanations to symptom clusters one doesn't understand. This book could easily become a 'required' text for graduate students in mental health professions and mental health professionals. . . . This text will undoubtedly have an impact." --Maria P. P. Root, Ph.D., University of Washington "Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women is very good and will make an important contribution to the field. . . . The book's message--that it is critical that differential diagnosis include consideration of both psychiatric disorders--is convincing and important to emphasize to students in graduate programs." --Helene Jackson, Ph.D., The Columbia University School of Social Work

Brantlinger discusses the current medical and legal trends in sterilization with special emphasis on people with disabilities. She explores the issues surrounding sterilization decisions from the perspectives of judges, lawyers, social workers, doctors, family planners, as well as the families and individuals themselves. Woven throughout the book are case studies of individuals ranging from mild to severe retardation.

Brantlinger discusses the current medical and legal trends in sterilization with special emphasis on people with disabilities. She explores the issues surrounding sterilization decisions from the perspectives of judges, lawyers, social workers, doctors, family planners, as well as the families and individuals themselves.

Woven throughout the book are case studies of individuals ranging from mild to severe retardation. She illustrates how ethical issues related to sterilization are framed and which moral values are called upon during decision-making. She ends with guidelines for decision-making. As the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on the subject, this book will be invaluable to professionals in the social services and mental health fields as well as researchers in law, special education, social work, and public health. Individuals confronting these concerns will find the volume instructive as well.

There is a forgotten history to our current debates over reproductive technology - one interweaving literature and science, profoundly gendered, filled with choices and struggles. We pay a price when we accept modern reproductive technology as a scientific breakthrough without a past. Babies in Bottles retrieves some of that history by analyzing the literary and popular science writings of Julian Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, Charlotte Haldane, Aldous Huxley, and Naomi Mitchison - writings that include representations of reproductive technology from babies in bottles to surrogate mothers. It is to these images, fantasies, practices, and narratives of scientific intervention in reproduction that we must look if we want to understand what acts of ideological construction have been carried out, and are currently being performed, in the name of reproductive technology. Susan Merrill Squier shows how the imaginative construction of reproductive technology helps to shape our contemporary practices. Susan Merrill Squier is Julia Gregg Brill Professor in Women's Studies and English at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park. She is the author of Virginia Woolf and London: The Sexual Politics of the City, editor of Women Writers and the City: Essays in Feminist Literary Criticism, and co-editor of Arms and the Woman: War, Gender, and Literary Representation.

Written by experts in their respective fields, this book reviews the expanding knowledge concerning the mechanisms regulating male reproduction at the molecular and cellular levels. It covers the development of the testes and regulatory controls for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis, and it considers aspects of Sertoli cell function. Areas of emphasis include communication between the various cell types involved in reproduction by hormone and growth factors and the mechanisms by which these factors regulate gene expression. A number of mammalian systems, including humans, are covered. The carefully selected authors provide a clear synopsis of the concepts in each area as well as the latest references, enabling the reader to investigate the topic further. This book is of interest to those seeking an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms in male reproduction and is written for the graduate and postgraduate levels.
Key Features
* Provides up-to-date reviews of the molecular and cellular biology of male reproduction
* Includes chapters on the developmental biology of the testes
* Links conventional hormonal control of testicular function with the evolving role of growth factors and proto-oncogenes

This text, by a director of university counselling, examines the interplay of forces shaping the development of masculinity. It is particularly important during a period when the status of men has undergone considerable erosion in society. Counsellors, psychotherapists, mental health professionals, and all those working with teenage males will find this study of sex and gender issues, male bonding, psychosexual adjustment, situational ethics, and sexuality illuminating.

This anthology examines the normative and conceptual issues raised by recent innovation in human reproduction, including such practices as in-vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, and parenting through contract (surrogate motherhood). Its purpose is to identify and analyse the conceptual relations important for understanding and making judgements about the normative concerns of prudence, morality, and public policy (including law).

No single area of medicine promises more acrimonious and intense debate in the coming decades than the implications of new medical technologies on the maternal-fetal relationships. This is the only book to combine comprehensive coverage of the legal and social issues raised as a result of both emerging technologies for fetal intervention and increasing knowledge of fetal development. It examines such issues as the effects of maternal behavior on the fetus's health, hazards in the workplace, teenage pregnancy, and the use of therapeutic and diagnostic techniques. The volume also summarizes the legal/political context of policies regarding the mother's responsibility for the welfare of the fetus and describes the current status of these issues in public law. The work opens with a framework for examining rights and, in chapter 2, gives an in-depth description of knowledge about the impact of maternal actions on fetal development. Attention then turns to current trends in case law, as Chapter 3 traces the growing acceptance of causes of legal action for prenatal injury or death of the fetus. Chapter 4 extends this analysis to look at the changing legal context for defining standards of care for pregnant women. Chapter 5 examines three disparate but critical topics illustrating the pressures women face in the 1990s: workplace hazards, teenage pregnancy, and surrogate motherhood. The final chapter integrates the technological, legal, social, and political dimensions surrounding the maternal-fetal relationship into a context for creating an effective public policy.

For counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the sibling to "Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean "(Bergin & Garvey, 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections. "Open Season "provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals, and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth.

Readers will find this book timely, informative, shocking, irreverent, and extremely readable. Cohen's intimate writing style presents a compendium of knowledge on childbirth in the fashion of a personal letter. Her aim is to lower America's alarming reliance on cesarean section, which is currently at 25 percent of all births, and to return the responsibility for childbirth to women by encouraging them to choose the kind of birthing experience they wish to have. In addition to cesarean section, Cohen discusses many other generally unnecessary interventions performed on women during pregnancy and childbirth--such as fetal monitoring and routinized hospital procedures.

An exploration of the policy dilemmas with new fertility control techniques, this volume offers the first comprehensive treatment of the subject's technical, legal, and political dimensions. Robert H. Blank provides a detailed discussion of current state laws and court decisions, and extensive analysis of new fertility control techniques and their social and policy implications. Blank describes the political, institutional, and constitutional context of fertility control in the United States, examining the relationship between social structures and rapid advances in biomedical technology. He details innovations in fertility control, particularly reversible methods, and reviews the legal context of both voluntary and non-consensual sterilization. Examining the myriad contemporary policy issues relating to fertility control, this book offers insights for devising a rational fertility control policy that will maximize benefits and minimize potential abuses. Written for the informed layperson, it is will also be valuable to professionals in health, policy analysis, bioethics, family planning, and public policy.