Loading...
Everyday ethics
Loblay, Victoria
Loblay, Victoria
Author(s)
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Keywords
Collections
Files
Loading...
getpdfoct09d.pdf
Adobe PDF, 99.34 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"In India, the politicisation of sex selective abortion has resulted in legislative measures designed to prevent the misuse of ultrasound for purposes of sex determination during pregnancy. In Australia, however, sex determination remains a largely unregulated component of routine ultrasounds during pregnancy. As an anthropologist, what I find interesting about this contrast is not that India “needs” regulation more than Australia, but that it is revealing of the assumptions surrounding people’s use of ultrasound in these respective cultural landscapes. The truism that reproductive technologies are appropriated differently as they move through various socio-cultural contexts was the premise that drew me to investigate the use of ultrasound for sex determination in the context of my own culture, urban Australia, in preparation for a research project on similar issues in India. The lack of ethical debate on ultrasound and sex determination in Australia could be seen to reflect an assumption that Australian culture is one in which sex bias is negligible. Ethicists recognise that “obstetric ultrasonologists manage patients who present issues at the cutting edge of much current ethical debate.” (1) The development of ultrasound technology has expanded the ability of ultrasonologists to detect markers of foetal abnormalities, generating new ethical dilemmas concerning patient counselling. However, the ethical imperatives of “nondirective counselling” and “patient autonomy” are aimed primarily at debating prenatal diagnostic issues surrounding medical abortion and the risk of foetal abnormalities. Ethical concepts relating to “social” medicine such as sex selection are secondary
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Article
Date
2009-10
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder