Keeping it in the family: Debating the ethics of uterine transplants and commercial surrogacy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

In Danish and Swedish ethical and media debates, uterine transplants, in sharp contrast to commercial surrogacy, get positioned as a maternal gift-giving act. We argue that uterine transplants become (unlike commercial surrogacy arrangements) positioned in the private , intimate sphere of an individual known living donor (frequently the woman’s mother, a sibling, mother-in-law, or a friend) donating her viable but no longer individually needed uterus to help a known recipient (daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, or friend) experience pregnancy and birth. We propose the concept of bio-intimacy to help make sense of the ways that the uterus, upon separation from the older woman’s body, achieves discursive and material agency while it, in commercial surrogacy cases, is reframed as the exploitation of a less empowered, non-intimate other woman.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBioethics Beyond Altruism : Donating and Transforming Human Biological Materials
EditorsRhonda M. Shaw
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2017
Pages189-213
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes

ID: 252411354