I have just finished reading Valerie Hartouni’s book called “Cultural Conceptions” and it is fascinating! Hartouni starts by reminding us that what we observe and how we make sense of it depends on our stored memory of events, that after building a “data bank” of image or concepts, we begin to recognise familiar narratives, shapes and we give the object we are looking at meaning determined by our memory of the past. We predict what we might be observing by this past data bank of observation and so we are limited by our experience. Judgments in landmark cases to do with human reproduction are at the cutting edge of this thinking – how can we make laws about processes we have no experience of? What informs our moral or ethical data bank as to how to predict the future outcomes of techniques such as IVF using mitachondrial DNA from one woman, the egg from another and the sperm from a third “parent”. Who are the parents in this scenario? How does the law accommodate the practice of surrogacy? - the main thrust of the book.
Do yourself a huge favour and read this gem, it will make you think about more than just having babies – it will make you think about what it is to be a parent.
