Environmental Ethics and Medical Reproduction

Abstract Medicalized reproduction (MR) is a phrase this book will use to summarize the intervention of technology into human reproduction, from pre-conception gamete retrieval, to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), to birthing suites. It is broader than assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and includes any form of human reproduction that relies on medical resources. MR is, very often, a lifestyle procedure that is given to meet a reproductive project. Its purpose is not necessarily to address, cure, or treat infertility but to provide options in reproduction for both infertile and fertile. MR is thus poised for environmental evaluation not only as a procedure which increases population and uses resources, but also as a healthcare offering with clinically unnecessary carbon expenditure, and a reproductive choice in a time of climate change. The book offers an applied ethics at the nexus of environmental ethics, medical ethics, and sexual ethics. The introduction situates the modern advent of MR within climate change ethics. Part I details the numerous natural resources used by medical reproduction in all its forms, emphasizing the aspects that are used by fertile people to demonstrate that it is a voluntary lifestyle choice. Part II offers policy suggestions for sustainable MR, with a particular sensitivity to the desires that some people have to be parents and the global claim for medical and climate justice. The conclusion recognizes the obligation for environmental sustainability in all areas of life, leaving the reader with a broader understanding of climate ethics.