Penn Bioethics Seminar | Vardit Ravitsky, PhD

Reproductive ethics: a critical historical view and the challenge of prioritizing

While certain aspects of reproductive ethics, such as abortion or contraception, go back thousands of years, the 1978 birth of the first IVF baby marked a turning point. Since, reproductive ethics has been focused to a great extent on assisted reproductive technologies and the way they impact us as individuals, families, and societies. This talk will take a high-level historical and critical view of the past 40 years of these debates. It will suggest that the field has been reactive, often seduced by sensationalism and shiny new technologies, rather than focusing on ethical issues that deserve urgent attention. It will use examples to illustrate these claims and put forward the challenge of agreeing on criteria for prioritizing the work we do in reproductive ethics to address what really matters.

For more on Vardit Ravitsky:
https://www.rqr.umontreal.ca/en/team-members/vardit-ravitsky-phd-2/