The Impact of New Reproductive Technologies on Concepts of Genetic Relatedness and Non-relatedness

Abstract

This chapter will consider the impact of New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) on concepts of genetic relatedness and the significance of such concepts for women’s rights. NRTs have been praised for increasing reproductive autonomy — allowing women greater control over the timing of their children as well as the ‘type’ of children they choose to carry. However, before embracing NRTs and advocating that access to them should be a ‘reproductive right’ it must be asked whether increased access to NRTs is wholly positive for women. This chapter will explore one aspect of the issue, asking whether NRTs reinforce the importance of genetic relatedness and if they do, what this means for women. In particular, it will ask whether an increased emphasis upon genetic relatedness is compatible with supporting social rather than biological relationships and denying an essentialist view of women — women as biological mother — a central position of the women’s movement.