APPLETON, WIS. — One of the nation’s leading scholars in reproductive and genetic technology discusses the possibilities and dangers of ectogenesis — the idea of growing a human fetus entirely outside a woman’s womb — in the opening address of Lawrence University’s 2009-2010 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.
Rosemarie Tong, distinguished professor of health care ethics and director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, presents “Out of Body Gestation: In Whose Best Interests?” Monday, Oct.12 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
The debate on ectogenesis traces its roots to the 1920s, when some saw possibilities for replacing human bodies and their sensory, motor and biological constraints with magnificent machine bodies. The ectogenesis debate resurfaced in the 1970s, primarily in feminist circles. In the 1987 book, “Making Babies: The New Science and Ethics of Conception,” authors Peter Singer and Deane Wells argued ectogenesis was on the fast track for development because of advances in vitro fertilization technologies.
Today, with advancements in the development of reproductive and genetic technologies, ectogenesis, according to Tong, has become more probable than possible. Her presentation will examine various perspectives on the issue, from viewing a woman’s natural womb as “deficient” to the risk of losing emotional continuity between generations by using an artificial womb.
Tong has written extensively on feminism and ethics and is the author of more than a dozen books, including “Controlling Our Reproductive Destiny: A Technological and Philosophical Perspective,” “Feminist Approaches to Bioethics” and 2007’s “New Perspectives in Health Care Ethics: An Interdisciplinary and Crosscultural Approach.”
Along with serving on the board of directors of the International Association of Bioethics and the Women’s Bioethics Project, Tong is a frequent panelist and judge for the National Institutes of Health. In 1986, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recognized her with its National Professor of the Year Award. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Temple University.
Tong’s appearance is supported by the Edward F. Mielke Lectureship in Ethics in Medicine, Science and Society. The lectureship was established in 1985 by the Mielke Family Foundation in memory of Dr. Edward F. Mielke, a leading member of the Appleton medical community and the founder of the Appleton Medical Center.
