-
Exploitation in cross-border reproductive care
- IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
- University of Toronto Press
- Volume 7, Number 2, Fall 2014
- pp. 75-99
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
Concerns about exploitation pervade the literature on commercial cross-border reproductive care, particularly egg selling and surrogacy. But what constitutes exploitation, and what moral weight does it have? I consider the relationship between vulnerability, limited choice, consent, and mutually advantageous exploitation. To elucidate the difference between limited choice and consent, I draw on an account of relational autonomy. In the absence of a normative principle of fair distribution, it is unclear whether the providers of reproductive goods and services are treated fairly in such contracts, and therefore whether they have been exploited. I finish with some pragmatic recommendations for minimizing risks and empowering egg sellers and surrogates.