Reproductive Technologies: Does Choice Mean Freedom? :: essays research papers fc

Reproductive Technologies Does Choice Mean Freedom?"One does not, it might be said, gain a persons immunity simply byincreasing the guiltless quantity of possibilities which he or she can choose from."n Richard Norman     The study of reproductive technologies in our society today raises aninteresting question. Do they increase a womens immunity of choice or do theyexpand the power of men and science over women. Is freedom to choose what theycan do with their bodies real freedom. Freedom, as a core, is the absence ofexternal impediment. In this sort of empyrean can women rightfully be free of externalimpediment, also is this truly freedom of choice? "The range of physicalpossibilities from which a person can choose at a given moment has no directrelevance to freedomWhether a person is free or not does not depend on therange of choice." (Haylek 1960, p.12f). This subject is so socially chargedthat a women could not possibly have true freedo m of choice but a choice whichis basically decided for her, whether it be by the limited choices madeuseable to her by medical science or by the men which be directly involvedwith them in the decision.     In order to truly understand this issue we must look at its core,reproductive technology. This is a vast area to discuss because it ranges fromartificial insemination to abortion to contraception to genetic engineering withmany area in between.     Artificial insemination is the introduction of sperm to an ovumartificially either inside or outside the female genital tract. Abortion is the"extermination of maternal quality before the fetus is capable of independent life."Birth control is a huge area of reproductive or contraceptive technology, ineffect though all sub areas of this main area deal with the prevention offertilization of the ovum or egg, also in some cases such as the condom it canstop the spread of disease. Genetic engi neering is a new and extremely scarytechnology which hopes to enable the precise engineering of an unborn child.     The previous examples are just some of the areas of reproductivetechnologies but they are sufficient to cover the basic scope of the issue.     What is freedom. In the Websters dictionary the definition is "Thestate of macrocosm free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physicalrestraint". This is the core of freedom but to truly understand freedom onemust define it with much more detail. two people who have concentrated theirefforts on the subject of freedom are Norman and Haylek. Norman feels thatfreedom is equated to the absence of social pressure yet the possession of