Ethical challenges in reproduction

I'm Dr. Evie Kendal from Swinburne University of Technology, here to talk about ethical challenges in reproduction.

The first thing to consider when we're thinking about ethical challenges in reproduction is the effect of pronatalism on society. Pronatalism refers to the attitude that people should have children, even if it's quite difficult for them to achieve this goal. Pronatalist societies promote childbearing as normal, so people who choose not to have children have to come up with an explanation, as opposed to this just being a respected choice in the same way as having children. Now, this can be very problematic for people who struggle with fertility, so infertility will often carry a stigma in a pronatalist society, particularly for women. Another effect of pronatalism is that it often favors biological reproduction over alternatives like foster care and adoption. By that I mean it is often assumed that when someone adopts, they've already tried to have biological children and perhaps couldn't. Now, the other element that comes into play here is the fertility market. This is a massive commercial market. There is a lot of money being traded, and what we're concerned about ethically is whether or not people are making autonomous, free choices to engage with this industry, or whether, perhaps, their hopes for having children are being exploited for financial gain.

Another thing to note is that biological pregnancy is quite variable in humans. The length can be different, and the delivery method can be different. Some people deliver vaginally, so through the birth canal, and others deliver via caesarean section, so a surgical intervention to remove the baby. We also have instrument-assisted deliveries, such as forceps births. In terms of the fetus, we could have a typically developing fetus, or we might have a fetus who has some atypical development. That might be a genetic condition or a disability. There are also different types of pregnancies when it comes to the emotional connection to a pregnancy. Some people have wanted pregnancies, so they are happy to be pregnant and they want the baby. An unwanted pregnancy might be someone who did not intend to get pregnant. That does not necessarily mean they don't want the child at the end of the pregnancy, just that perhaps the pregnancy itself was unwanted or unplanned. We also have what is most typical, which is a conditionally wanted pregnancy. Now, this means that the person wanted to be pregnant, perhaps they wanted to start a family, but their desire for the pregnancy also has some caveats. For example, most people are looking for a typical healthy pregnancy, or perhaps a fetus that's developing typically, so what this can mean is something can go from a wanted pregnancy to an unwanted pregnancy if there is some challenge in the development of the fetus. We also very often see something that starts as an unwanted pregnancy actually becoming a wanted pregnancy. What's most important here is remembering that pregnancy is what it is to the person experiencing it, and it can oscillate between these different states.