Mills And Bioethics

Mills’ (2011) Futures of Reproduction:Bioethics and Biopolitics and Mol’s (2008) The Logic of Care: Health and the Problem of Patient Choice both argued ethics. In Mills’ book she approached to ethics was from more of a technological stand point. Mills discussed in details how preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) influences medical decisions. However, Mol approached ethics from a patient standpoint. Mol discussed how the logic of care begins with the collectives with patients (p. 58). Mol believes that this is the best way to care for patients, rather than treating factors and circumstances as separate entities. Mills quoted Agar when saying “The addition of the word “liberal” to “eugenics” transforms the evil doctrine into a morally
Mills discussed the conditions of terminating a pregnancy and when it becomes acceptable. According to Mills, what society believes are social norms I wat is acceptable and reasonable decisions when terminating a pregnancy (p. 3). This is an ongoing argument for when it is okay to terminate a pregnancy. It is more socially accepted to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal disability. Yet, it is less acceptable to terminate a pregnancy due to one’s on personally reasons if it goes against the unwritten rules in society. In Zylinska’s (2009) Bioethics in the age of New Media she said, “if only we could agree in advance what it actually means to be alive” (p. 11). I found this quote instructing when thinking about what is accepted in society. If “being alive” is defined by breathing, this would make it unacceptable to terminate a pregnancy due to a disability of the fetus. This is an instance where society contradicts its self. As stated earlier, Mills said “liberal eugenics remains neutral to the questions of how people should live, leaving the value orientations and life plans up to the individuals themselves” (p. 6). Yet, it becomes an issue when an individual makes a decision to terminate a pregnancy because of how society views abortion. Termination of a pregnancy based on society seems to only be acceptable if there is a chance the fetus may have a disability. How can an individual make a decision for their self, based on the own values, yet society turns my scold someone because their values do not agree with society’s