Reproductive Responsibility and Long-Acting Contraceptives

Short of the criminal sanction, the state may attempt to foster\nconcern for reproductive responsibility in a wide variety of ways. Some of\nthese, such as providing women and men with information about various\nreproductive risks, strike us as being morally unproblematic. Noncoercive,\nnondiscriminatory incentives to stay in school and delay childbearing would,\nwe think, be an acceptable way to promote responsible parenting. Other\nmeasures currently under discussion, such as conditioning welfare benefits on\nacceptance of a long-term contraceptive, seem to us to invite coercive and\ndiscriminatory treatment of the poor and minority group members, and to\nintrude in a very dangerous way into the reproductive choices of disadvantaged\nindividuals. From the point of view of social policy, the notion of\nreproductive responsibility has limited usefulness. It can help guide the\nformulation of public policy in noncoercive directions, but even when narrowly\nfocused on prospective abuse and neglect, it does not justify coercive state\nintervention. Policy may be animated by a concern for reproductive\nresponsibility, but its justification depends on a careful assessment of its\noverall social impact

Environmental health · Family planning · Gynecology · Population · Research methodology · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Technologies

• What Is Reproductive Justice

  Kimala Price•Meridians•2020

  Add to list

• What is Reproductive Justice? How Women of Color Activists Are Redefining the Pro-Choice Paradigm

  Kimala Price•Meridians•2010

  Add to list