Reproductive Ethics in Clinical Practice

Reproductive health care professionals in fields such as Obstetrics and Gynecology, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics face difficult ethical issues because they work at the crossroads of patient decision-making, scientific advancement, political controversy, legal regulation, and profound moral considerations. The dilemmas these professionals face expose big-picture bioethics questions of interest to everyone. Yet for clinicians striving to deliver excellent patient care, the ethical questions that make daily practice challenging can be just as nuanced.

This volume presents a carefully curated compilation of essays written by leading experts in the fields of medicine, ethics, and law, who address key issues at the forefront of reproductive ethics. It is organized into three main sections: I. Contraception and Abortion Ethics - Preventing Pregnancy and Birth, II. Assisted Reproduction Ethics - Initiating Pregnancy, and III. Obstetric Ethics - Managing Pregnancy and Delivery. Each section begins with a short introduction by the editors providing an overview of the area and contextualizing the essays that follow. This volume's primary aim is to be useful to practicing clinicians, students, and trainees by providing short and practical essays covering urgent topics--from race, religion and abortion, to legal liability, violations of confidentiality and maternal choices that risk future children's health. This collection provides clinicians at all levels of training with frameworks they need to approach the intimate and high-stakes encounters central to their profession.