From the Womb to the Tomb: Issues in Medical Ethics

The topics covered in this book include: commercial surrogate motherhood; designer babies and the so-called commodification of children; abortion; justice, life expectancy and social inequality; human reproductive cloning; posthumous insemination and consent; altruism and the reasonable pursuit of self interest; bodies, persons and human embryos; justice, fairness and the taxation of tobacco; organ and tissue donation and consent. What, were it to happen, would be for the best? What ought we to do? These are different questions. It is not necessarily any one's business nor the business of state to bring about that which, were it to happen, would be the best outcome. Although outcomes matter in relation to both ethics and public policy they are not the only consideration. It matters what we do and also why and how we do what we do. Another central theme is that the following sorts of questions are quite different although they are often confused and conflated. Is it wise to do such and such? Is it morally wrong? Should it be illegal? With a preface by Udo Schuklenk, Co-Editor of Bioethics