The methods used here are typical of philosophical research: concept and argument analysis and critical interpretation of the texts. The aim of conceptual analysis is not first and foremost normative, but rather descriptive and clarifying. I will describe and clarify concepts that are central to feminist bioethics. I will also elucidate how feminist bioethicists use certain concepts in certain contexts. In addition, I will identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments that are used in feminist bioethics. In relation to stem cell research, I will study and evaluate arguments that are used not only in feminist bioethics, but also in standard bioethics. With this analytical reading I will clarify the arguments and concepts used in feminist bioethics and thereby elucidate their philosophical premises. In particular I will consider how certain principles and practices are formulated and how they affect the understanding of feminist bioethics as a sub-field. My method is also constructive as I offer proposals for new directions in feminist bioethics.
The research literature contains the following principal types of material: feminist bioethical literature, stem cell reports, and bioethical literature on stem cell research and use, both feminist and standard bioethical. In addition, I use feminist philosophical literature, in order to comment on feminist bioethical theories, and standard bioethical literature to reflect feminist bioethicists’ understanding of more standard bioethics.
The feminist bioethical literature used in this study includes monographs, anthologies, and individual articles. The following feminist bioethicists are among the most published authors in their field:
Anne Donchin, Helen Bequaert Holmes, Laura Purdy, Susan Sherwin, Rosemarie Tong, and Susan M.
Wolf. Of their works, I use the following: Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics; No Longer Patient:
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Feminist Ethics and Heath Care; Feminist Approaches to Bioethics: Theoretical Reflections and Practical Applications; Feminism and Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction. Many of the articles I used here have been published by FAB in its conference proceedings.
Margrit Shildrick’s Leaky Bodies and Boundaries: Feminism, Postmodernism and (Bio)ethics (1997) can be situated between the feminist bioethical literature and the feminist philosophical literature. Shildrick discusses feminist philosophy and its relation to postmodern thinking, especially keeping bioethical issues in mind. Similarly, Ethics of the Body: Postconventional Challenges (2005) can be situated between disciplines. On the one hand, the volume is a theoretical account of postconventional thinking, that is, postmodern and poststructuralist theories. As such, it discusses the relationship between feminism and postconventional theories. On the other hand, the book is a collection of articles about specific bioethical issues written from perspectives other than that of standard bioethics.
In the analysis of the concept of autonomy, I rely especially on Relational Autonomy:
Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self (2000) edited by Catriona Mackenzie and Natalie Stoljar. I also use Sarah Lucia Hoagland’s Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value (1988).
For the discussion of stem cell research and use I use the following types of literature:
official stem cell reports written by international, national, and scientific institutions, feminist bioethical articles about stem cell research and use, and the more standard bioethical literature on stem cell ethics.
Biological knowledge about stem cells and their use in research is based on articles in different scientific journals, including Science, and from Human Embryonic Stem Cells: An Introduction to the Science and Therapeutic Potential (2003).
Several national and international boards and organizations along with scientific organizations have discussed stem cell research, its prospects, and its shortcomings. I will examine stem cell reports written in the European Union, Finland, and the United States, as well as two reports drawn up by scientific organizations, NordForsk and the European Science Foundation. The ground for the selection is straight forward. The roots of feminist bioethics are in Western philosophical traditions and societies. The evaluation of bioethics should thus be done first from a Western perspective. Because it is important to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of feminist bioethics in its original context, my analysis is restricted to this framework. Hopefully, further studies will examine non-Western contexts.
The E.U. and U.S. stem cell reports are relevant for evaluating Western context. They also provide different accounts of the issue within that context. The Finnish reports offer a point of comparison. In contrast to the E.U. report, the Finnish point of view reveals a single specific perspective on stem cell ethics within the E.U. In comparison to the U.S. reports, the Finnish viewpoint reveals the diversity of Western thinking in regard to stem cell research.
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I will refer to three international reports written within the E.U.: Adoption of an Opinion on Ethical Aspects of Human Stem Cell Research and Use, EGE Opinion No 15 (2000); Commission Staff Working Paper: Report on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2003); and Recommendations on the Ethical Review of hESC FP7 Research Projects, EGE Opinion no 22 (2003). I call these reports simply the E.U. reports. In Finland, the Parliament discussed stem cell research and use in The Committee for the Future’s Statement on the Technology Assessment Project “Social and Legal Challenges of Human Genome and Stem Cell Research.”72 The statement is a result of an assessment project initiated by the Finnish Parliament and the Committee for the Future. Another Finnish stem cell report, Ihmisen kantasolut, kloonaus ja tutkimus [Human Stem Cells, Cloning and Research] was published in 2003 by the Finnish Ethical Advisory Boards. The report was published in English under the name Human Stem Cells, Cloning and Research in 2005. Among the U.S. reports I have chosen the following published by national authorities: Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research: Executive Summary by the National Bioethics Advisory Council (1999) and Monitoring Stem Cell Research by the President’s Council on Bioethics (2008). These reports show how ethical issues related to stem cell research have been discussed during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In addition, I briefly discuss how President Barack Obama’s presidency has affected the research environment in the U.S. Two reports from the British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) are of interest with regard to egg donation: SEED Report: A Report on the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority’s Review of Sperm and Embryo Donation in the United Kingdom (2005); and Donating Eggs for Research: Safeguarding Donors. Should Egg Donation for Research Take Place and, if So, How Can Donors be Best Protected? (2006).
In contrast to the international and national stem cell reports, I analyze two reports written by scientific organizations, which provide interesting points of comparison because their aims are different. While national and supranational reports are written from the legislators’ point of view or for the legislators, scientific organizations enter the debate from the perspective of scientists, the scientific community, or the funder. In Europe, the European Science Foundation (ESF) and NordForsk have published policy briefings on human stem cell research: European Science Foundation Policy Briefing, Human Stem Cell Research: Scientific Uncertainties and Ethical Dilemmas (2001) and NordForsk’s Stem Cell Research in the Nordic Countries: Science, Ethics, Public Debate and Law (2007).
In addition to the stem cell reports, I use bioethical literature to examine the stem cell debate. This literature is both feminist and more standard in nature. Women’s Health Issues and The Journal of Bioethical Inquiry have each devoted a special issue to stem cell research with both feminist
72 Committee for the Future’s Statement on Technology Assessment Project “Social and legal challenges of human genome and stem cell research” 2003.
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and non-feminist articles.73 The following anthologies provide different perspectives on the ethical issues related to stem cell research: The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (2001) includes articles about stem cell research, the ethical issues related to the use of human embryos, and broader ethical questions related to stem cell research, such as social justice and donor protection. The Human Embryo Research Debates: Bioethics in the Vortex of Controversy (2001) by Ronald M. Green gives an inside account of the author’s membership on the Human Embryo Research Panel in the U.S. Although Green’s view is not limited to stem cell ethics, he expands his account of embryo research in general to stem cell research. The Stem Cell Controversy: Debating the Issues (2006) is a collection of articles published first elsewhere and collected by the editors Michael Ruse and Christopher A. Pynes; it documents the vast array of issues related to the stem cell debate.