Vardit Ravitsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 1738684 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vardit Ravitsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vardit |
| FAMILY NAME | Ravitsky |
| SIGNATURE | RAVITSKY V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Université de Montréal |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7080-8801 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The misplaced embryo: Legal parenthood in ‘embryo mix-up’ cases
Recently in Israel, a woman was mistakenly implanted with an embryo that is genetically related to another couple. Unfortunately, this case is not an isolated occurrence, as other cases of embryo mix-ups have been reported in several countries, including the USA, China, the UK and various other countries within the European Union. Cases of mixed-up embryos are ethically and legally complex: the woman who carried the pregnancy and the woman who is…
Should Parents of the Deceased Have Standing to Initiate Posthumous Sperm Retrieval? Analyzing Developments in Israel
Posthumous sperm retrieval is a complex and contentious issue that raises various ethical, legal, and social concerns. Policies regulating this practice vary globally, reflecting diverse normative approaches and cultural values. Israel, which had a permissive stance on the matter even before the October 7 attack, has seen a significant shift in policy since the attack and subsequent war, now allowing sperm retrieval based on parental request. Thi…
Considering the Developing Entity in an Artificial Womb as a Patient
Artificial womb (AW) prototypes are currently being developed with the aim of improving the medical care of extremely premature infants. Despite the seemingly imminent reality of partial ectogenesis (i.e., gestation partially outside a human womb), there is persisting debate about the moral status of the fetus transferred in an AW—henceforth, the “developing entity.” For some, AWs are simply another neonatal intensive cares’ technology. Thus, dev…
Bioethics and Optimism at Work
In the coming years, we will be facing urgent and complex challenges—from climate change, aging societies, and structural inequities to the possible effects of emerging technologies like genomics and artificial intelligence. But, as the president of The Hastings Center for Bioethics, I remain optimistic because bioethics can play a crucial role in navigating this future. To be effective, the field must expand its scope, embrace systemic and globa…
What Does Our Tolerance of Poor Management of Patients’ Pain Have to Do With Reimbursement Inequity for Office-Based Gynecologic Procedures
Office-based gynecologic procedures (OBGPs) are reimbursed at lower rates than similar office urology and dermatology procedures. But there is a broader "hidden curriculum" in health professions training that perpetuates clinicians' and organizations' acceptance of these patterns of poor reimbursement, disincentivizes research on improving OBGP pain management, and exacerbates tolerance of poor control of patients' OBGP pain. This article suggest…
AI and the falling sky: Interrogating X-Risk
This paper argues that the headline-grabbing nature of existential risk (X-Risk) diverts attention away from immediate artificial intelligence (AI) threats, including fairly disseminating AI risks and benefits and justly transitioning towards AI-centred societies. Section I introduces a working definition of X-Risk, considers its likelihood and explores possible subtexts. It highlights conflicts of interest that arise when tech luminaries lead et…
Stoking fears of AI X-Risk (while forgetting justice here and now)
Pandemics, intellectual property and ‘our economy’: A worldview analysis of Canada’s role in compromising global access to Covid-19 vaccines
Despite self-congratulatory rhetoric, Canada compromised COVID-19 vaccine equity with policies impeding a proposed global waiver of vaccine intellectual property (IP) rules. To learn from Canada's vaccine nationalism we explore the worldview - a coherent textual picture of the world - in a sample of Government of Canada communications regarding global COVID-19 vaccine sharing. Analysed documents portray risks and disparities as unrelated to the d…
Parent-initiated posthumous-assisted reproduction revisited in light of the interest in genetic origins
A rich literature in bioethics argues against the use of anonymous gamete donation in the name of the ‘interest in knowing one’s genetic origins’. This interest stems from medical as well as psychosocial and identity reasons. The term ‘genealogical bewilderment’ has been coined to express the predicament of those deprived of access to information about their origins. Another rich body of literature in bioethics discusses arguments for and against…
Academic freedom under siege
This paper describes a global pattern of declining academic freedom, often driven by powerful political interference with core functions of academic communities. It argues that countering threats to academic freedom requires doubling down on ethics, specifically standards of justice and fairness in pursuing knowledge and assigning warrant to beliefs. Using the example of the selection of a Qatari university to host the 2024 World Congress of Bioe…
Rewriting the genetic bond: Gene editing and our understanding of genetic parenthood
One of the most prominent justifications for the use of germline gene editing (GGE) is that it would allow parents to have a “genetically related child” while preventing the transmission of genetic disorders. However, we argue that since future uses of GGE may involve large‐scale genetic modifications, they may affect the genetic relatedness between parents and offspring in a meaningful way: Due to certain genetic modifications, children may inhe…
The ethics of bioethics conferencing in Qatar
In 2022, the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) announced that the 17th World Congress of Bioethics would be held in Doha, Qatar. In response to ethical concerns expressed about the Qatar selection, the IAB Board of Directors developed and posted to the IAB website a response using a Q&A format. In this Letter, we (the IAB President and Vice President) address concerns about the ethics of bioethics conferencing raised in a 2023 Letter t…
A Path Forward—and Outward: Repositioning Bioethics to Face Future Challenges
This essay explores what the future may hold for bioethics if it continues its evolution toward a field that embraces systemic, collective‐level challenges; has a global scale and focus; emphasizes human flourishing; and seeks to have increased societal impact. As The Hastings Center considers strategic priorities for its research, public engagement, and impact, this essay reflects on where we have been and where we are going. It offers an expans…
IAB Presidential Address: Bioethics, justice, and lessons from a global pandemic
“Autonomy and solidarity: Bridging the tensions”: Celebrating the 15th World Congress of Bioethics
Colombian Youth Express Interest in Receiving Sex Education from their Parents
Governing the futures of non-invasive prenatal testing: An exploration of social acceptability using the Delphi method
Colombian Adolescents’ Perceptions of Autonomy and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Services: An Ethical Analysis
There are conceptual and ethical challenges to defining adolescents’ autonomy to access health care, and these can lead to health care norms and practices that could be maladjusted to the needs and preferences of adolescents. Particularly sensitive is access to sexual and reproductive health care services (SRHS). Yet, while there has been substantial conceptual work to conceptualize autonomy (e.g., as independence), there is a lack of empirical r…
Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of Covid-19
Special Issue: IAB 14th World Congress
Posthumous planning following fertility preservation: A study of adolescent cancer patients in Israel
In an Israeli qualitative study with adolescent cancer survivors and parents who had considered fertility preservation, practically all participants could not recall any discussions with healthcare providers about plans for cryopreserved biological materials in the case of death. This ! nding is surprising given recent court struggles in Israel over the posthumous use of cryopreserved sperm. In interviews with these adolescent survivors and their…
Toward an Ethically Sensitive Implementation of Noninvasive Prenatal Screening in the Global Context
Noninvasive prenatal screening using cell‐free DNA, which analyzes placental DNA circulating in maternal blood to provide information about fetal chromosomal disorders early in pregnancy and without risk to the fetus, has been hailed as a potential “paradigm shift” in prenatal genetic screening. Commercial provision of cell‐free DNA screening has contributed to a rapid expansion of the tests included in the screening panels. The tests can include…
The Shifting Landscape of Prenatal Testing: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Public Health
Since the 1970s, prenatal testing has been integrated into many health care systems on the basis of two competing and largely irreconcilable rationales. The reproductive autonomy rationale focuses on nondirective counseling and consent as ways to ensure that women's decisions about testing and subsequent care are informed and free of undue pressures. It also represents an easily understandable and ethically convincing basis for widespread access …
Soldiers’ Preferences Regarding Sperm Preservation, Posthumous Reproduction, and Attributes of a Potential “Posthumous Mother”
We present study results regarding soldiers' willingness to conduct posthumous reproduction. Two hundred twelve Israeli soldiers filled in a questionnaire designed to examine their willingness to cryopreserve sperm and evaluate in which familial circumstances they would consent to posthumous reproduction. They ranked the desirability of 46 attributes of a potential mother and a life partner. Findings indicate a relatively high predisposition in f…
Epigenetics in the Neoliberal “Regime of Truth”: A Biopolitical Perspective on Knowledge Translation
Recent findings in epigenetics have been attracting much attention from social scientists and bioethicists because they reveal the molecular mechanisms by which exposure to socioenvironmental factors, such as pollutants and social adversity, can influence the expression of genes throughout life. Most surprisingly, some epigenetic modifications may also be heritable via germ cells across generations. Epigenetics may be the missing molecular eviden…
Colombian Adolescents’ Perceptions of Autonomy and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Services: An Ethical Analysis
There are conceptual and ethical challenges to defining adolescents’ autonomy to access health care, and these can lead to health care norms and practices that could be maladjusted to the needs and preferences of adolescents. Particularly sensitive is access to sexual and reproductive health care services (SRHS). Yet, while there has been substantial conceptual work to conceptualize autonomy (e.g., as independence), there is a lack of empirical r…
Colombian Youth Express Interest in Receiving Sex Education from their Parents
Conceived and Deceived: The Medical Interests of Donor‐Conceived Individuals
Effective July 22, 2011, a new law in the state of Washington requires any donor of sperm or eggs to provide a medical history and identifying information to fertility clinics. It also allows donor‐conceived individuals to request this information from clinics once they reach the age of eighteen. This is a significant legislative milestone and a promising development in a country that has consistently shied away from regulating the infertility in…
Autonomous Choice and the Right to Know One's Genetic Origins
In “The Ethics of Anonymous Gamete Donation: Is There a Right to Know One's Genetic Origins?,” Inmaculada de Melo‐Martín deconstructs the interests the right is supposed to protect. She argues that these interests are not set back or thwarted when one has no access to one's genetic origins. The basis of her argument is that we lack robust empirical evidence that donor‐conceived individuals suffer certain alleged harms, and that even when such har…
The Author Replies
Reply to a commentary by Kimberly Leighton. Today, we are fortunate enough to live in a wonderfully diverse social world. We parent children under rich sets of circumstances: they can be our partner's children from her or his prior relationship, children we adopt, children we conceive with the help of a donated sperm or egg, and children that are carried by a surrogate. We can parent them by ourselves in a single-parent family, with a partner of …
Epigenetics in the Neoliberal “Regime of Truth”: A Biopolitical Perspective on Knowledge Translation
Recent findings in epigenetics have been attracting much attention from social scientists and bioethicists because they reveal the molecular mechanisms by which exposure to socioenvironmental factors, such as pollutants and social adversity, can influence the expression of genes throughout life. Most surprisingly, some epigenetic modifications may also be heritable via germ cells across generations. Epigenetics may be the missing molecular eviden…
Toward an Ethically Sensitive Implementation of Noninvasive Prenatal Screening in the Global Context
Noninvasive prenatal screening using cell‐free DNA, which analyzes placental DNA circulating in maternal blood to provide information about fetal chromosomal disorders early in pregnancy and without risk to the fetus, has been hailed as a potential “paradigm shift” in prenatal genetic screening. Commercial provision of cell‐free DNA screening has contributed to a rapid expansion of the tests included in the screening panels. The tests can include…
The Shifting Landscape of Prenatal Testing: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Public Health
Since the 1970s, prenatal testing has been integrated into many health care systems on the basis of two competing and largely irreconcilable rationales. The reproductive autonomy rationale focuses on nondirective counseling and consent as ways to ensure that women's decisions about testing and subsequent care are informed and free of undue pressures. It also represents an easily understandable and ethically convincing basis for widespread access …
Soldiers’ Preferences Regarding Sperm Preservation, Posthumous Reproduction, and Attributes of a Potential “Posthumous Mother”
We present study results regarding soldiers' willingness to conduct posthumous reproduction. Two hundred twelve Israeli soldiers filled in a questionnaire designed to examine their willingness to cryopreserve sperm and evaluate in which familial circumstances they would consent to posthumous reproduction. They ranked the desirability of 46 attributes of a potential mother and a life partner. Findings indicate a relatively high predisposition in f…
Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of Covid-19
Special Issue: IAB 14th World Congress
Posthumous planning following fertility preservation: A study of adolescent cancer patients in Israel
In an Israeli qualitative study with adolescent cancer survivors and parents who had considered fertility preservation, practically all participants could not recall any discussions with healthcare providers about plans for cryopreserved biological materials in the case of death. This ! nding is surprising given recent court struggles in Israel over the posthumous use of cryopreserved sperm. In interviews with these adolescent survivors and their…
Colombian Adolescents’ Perceptions of Autonomy and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Services: An Ethical Analysis
There are conceptual and ethical challenges to defining adolescents’ autonomy to access health care, and these can lead to health care norms and practices that could be maladjusted to the needs and preferences of adolescents. Particularly sensitive is access to sexual and reproductive health care services (SRHS). Yet, while there has been substantial conceptual work to conceptualize autonomy (e.g., as independence), there is a lack of empirical r…
IAB Presidential Address: Bioethics, justice, and lessons from a global pandemic
“Autonomy and solidarity: Bridging the tensions”: Celebrating the 15th World Congress of Bioethics
Colombian Youth Express Interest in Receiving Sex Education from their Parents
Governing the futures of non-invasive prenatal testing: An exploration of social acceptability using the Delphi method
Parent-initiated posthumous-assisted reproduction revisited in light of the interest in genetic origins
A rich literature in bioethics argues against the use of anonymous gamete donation in the name of the ‘interest in knowing one’s genetic origins’. This interest stems from medical as well as psychosocial and identity reasons. The term ‘genealogical bewilderment’ has been coined to express the predicament of those deprived of access to information about their origins. Another rich body of literature in bioethics discusses arguments for and against…
Academic freedom under siege
This paper describes a global pattern of declining academic freedom, often driven by powerful political interference with core functions of academic communities. It argues that countering threats to academic freedom requires doubling down on ethics, specifically standards of justice and fairness in pursuing knowledge and assigning warrant to beliefs. Using the example of the selection of a Qatari university to host the 2024 World Congress of Bioe…
Rewriting the genetic bond: Gene editing and our understanding of genetic parenthood
One of the most prominent justifications for the use of germline gene editing (GGE) is that it would allow parents to have a “genetically related child” while preventing the transmission of genetic disorders. However, we argue that since future uses of GGE may involve large‐scale genetic modifications, they may affect the genetic relatedness between parents and offspring in a meaningful way: Due to certain genetic modifications, children may inhe…
The ethics of bioethics conferencing in Qatar
In 2022, the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) announced that the 17th World Congress of Bioethics would be held in Doha, Qatar. In response to ethical concerns expressed about the Qatar selection, the IAB Board of Directors developed and posted to the IAB website a response using a Q&A format. In this Letter, we (the IAB President and Vice President) address concerns about the ethics of bioethics conferencing raised in a 2023 Letter t…
A Path Forward—and Outward: Repositioning Bioethics to Face Future Challenges
This essay explores what the future may hold for bioethics if it continues its evolution toward a field that embraces systemic, collective‐level challenges; has a global scale and focus; emphasizes human flourishing; and seeks to have increased societal impact. As The Hastings Center considers strategic priorities for its research, public engagement, and impact, this essay reflects on where we have been and where we are going. It offers an expans…
AI and the falling sky: Interrogating X-Risk
This paper argues that the headline-grabbing nature of existential risk (X-Risk) diverts attention away from immediate artificial intelligence (AI) threats, including fairly disseminating AI risks and benefits and justly transitioning towards AI-centred societies. Section I introduces a working definition of X-Risk, considers its likelihood and explores possible subtexts. It highlights conflicts of interest that arise when tech luminaries lead et…
Stoking fears of AI X-Risk (while forgetting justice here and now)
Pandemics, intellectual property and ‘our economy’: A worldview analysis of Canada’s role in compromising global access to Covid-19 vaccines
Despite self-congratulatory rhetoric, Canada compromised COVID-19 vaccine equity with policies impeding a proposed global waiver of vaccine intellectual property (IP) rules. To learn from Canada's vaccine nationalism we explore the worldview - a coherent textual picture of the world - in a sample of Government of Canada communications regarding global COVID-19 vaccine sharing. Analysed documents portray risks and disparities as unrelated to the d…
Considering the Developing Entity in an Artificial Womb as a Patient
Artificial womb (AW) prototypes are currently being developed with the aim of improving the medical care of extremely premature infants. Despite the seemingly imminent reality of partial ectogenesis (i.e., gestation partially outside a human womb), there is persisting debate about the moral status of the fetus transferred in an AW—henceforth, the “developing entity.” For some, AWs are simply another neonatal intensive cares’ technology. Thus, dev…
Bioethics and Optimism at Work
In the coming years, we will be facing urgent and complex challenges—from climate change, aging societies, and structural inequities to the possible effects of emerging technologies like genomics and artificial intelligence. But, as the president of The Hastings Center for Bioethics, I remain optimistic because bioethics can play a crucial role in navigating this future. To be effective, the field must expand its scope, embrace systemic and globa…
Political science (21 works) · Law (19 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Bioethics (9 works) · Biology (9 works) · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare (9 works) · Reproductive Health and Technologies (9 works) · Autonomy (8 works)