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Abortion Bioethics Contraception Health Care Reform Philosophy Politics Sexual practices

Contraception, health, and desire

Andrew Haines makes basically the same point apropos of Tollefson’s essay as I did the other day. And here’s just one more way of putting it that occurred to me this morning. I think it’s safe to say that we have a natural desire for health (and even a natural inclination to health – I […]

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Assisted Reproduction Bioethics Call for Papers Death and dying

2012 International Bioethics Conference

Abstracts and symposia proposals are invited for the 11th conference of the International Association of Bioethics: THINKING AHEAD, Bioethics and the Future, and the Future of Bioethics, which will be held from June 26th till June 29th, 2012 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The IAB conferences are an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of moral views, practices, […]

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Abortion Bioethics Conscience protection Contraception Health Care Reform Philosophy Politics Presidential Actions

Yet another item on the Obama contraception mandate

Here is Prof. Christopher Tollefsen: “Contraception and Healthcare Rights.” I think it’s pretty carefully thought out and argued (one possible quibble based on a quick first reading would be with the “great gravity and urgency” criterion, though that probably has nothing to do with the point about contraception). And I think Tollefsen implicitly points to […]

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Abortion Bioethics Philosophy

Waldron on “Equal Moral Status”

Jeremy Waldron has posted a paper arguing that the idea of every human being having “equal moral status” is useful only if we distinguish between “sortal” and “condition” status. He notes that the paper was originally prepared for the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. He explains “sortal” and “condition” status this […]

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Abortion Bioethics Conscience protection Contraception Death and dying Fetal anomolies and disabilities Medical abortion Organ Donation Philosophy Sexual practices Women's health

Speaking of the National Catholic Bioethics Center …

The new (Summer 2011) issue of their National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly arrived in my mailbox the other day. A few things of note from the contents: The “Colloquy” section includes an exchange of letters regarding an article in a previous NCBQ critical of philospher Fr. Martin Rhonheimer’s recent Vital Conflicts in Medical Ethics: A Virtue Approach to […]

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Abortion Assisted Reproduction Bioethics Canada Eugenics Human embryos International Surrogacy

G. Annas “Assisted Reproduction – Canada’s Supreme Court and the “Global Baby”

The August 4 issue of New England Journal of Medicine contains an article by Prof. George Annas entitled Assisted Reproduction – Canada’s Supreme Court and the “Global Baby“. He adopts the phrase “global baby” from a Wall Street Journal article found here about the growth of human surrogacy as an international trade. Prof. Annas notes […]

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Abortion Bioethics Clinic regulation Philosophy Women's health

Requirements of Informed Consent Limit Autonomy?

Arthur Kaplan argues that opposing telemedicine abortion is irresponsible here. He argues that abortion providers have a right to determine the information that a patient needs with no “interference” by state legislatures. Curiously he justifies this return to a paternalistic notion of medical cares by a demand for patient autonomy. It appears he has little […]

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Abortion Bioethics Philosophy

Libertarian Debate over “Evictionism”

Yesterday I posted a brief comment, Allowing the Unborn to Live While Respecting Women’s Free Will,” on a law review article arguing that the means of abortion should be limited to those which provide the greatest opportunity for the unborn child to flourish while respecting the woman’s right to control her own body. It appears […]

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Abortion Bioethics Call for Papers Colleges and Universities Conferences Euthanasia Health exception International International Women's health

Call for Abstracts on Health and Human Rights

The 2011 Queen’s University Health and Human Rights Conference has issued a call for abstracts of reseach to be presented during its poster session on September 30 – October 1st, 2011 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The conference is a student-led initiative with a mandate to build bridges between the humanities, sciences and social […]

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Bioethics Eugenics Human embryos

German bishops denounce Germany’s approval of PDG

Here is a Zenit story on the German Catholic bishops’ response to a new German law that gives the go-ahead to the use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PDG). http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-33074 The bishops point out the eugenic implications of such usage. “The selection  of a ‘healthy’ embryo always entails the rejection of ‘unhealthy’ human embryos–and thus a violation […]