New genetic technologies and their impact on women: a feminist perspective

Overview

In wealthy countries such as the United States, new genetic and reproductive technologies, including human reproductive cloning, are being developed. To date, the short- and long- term consequences for women of human reproductive cloning have remained largely unexamined. This article analyses ten common misconceptions about new genetic technologies, especially human reproductive cloning, and shows that women will bear the major physical, psychological, social, moral, legal, political and economic burdens of these genetic manipulations. Despite the great diversity of women and differing feminist perspectives towards new reproductive technologies, I argue that we need a united position which opposes human reproductive cloning. This article is based on a presentation that formed part of a panel at the Association for Women’s Rights and Development (AWID) 9th International Forum entitled ‘The Genetic Revolution, Biotechnology and Women’s Rights’. A version of this paper was first presented as a talk on 3 February 2001 at a meeting in San Francisco, California US, on ‘human genetic manipulation and its implications for women and women’s organisations’ co-sponsored by The Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies and the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC). This talk was later turned into an article and posted at www.ourbodiesourselves.org. A shortened version of this paper was presented at the AWID conference on 4 October 2002. A version of this article will also appear in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, special edition in honour of Professor Joan Ablon, my mentor from the joint Berkeley-UC San Francisco Medical Anthropology Program.

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