Problems of Conception (eBook)

Marit Melhuus is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. She has previously worked in Argentina and Mexico, focusing on issues of development, economic anthropology, gender and morality.

Preface and acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Framing the issues


Introduction

Kinship – a new beginning?

Some other issues

Law/imagination

The involuntary childless

Some reflections on the precautionary principle and a bit more

The state of Norway and the notion of equality


Chapter 2. Children of one’s own


A first encounter

Having an own child

An issue of sameness

An own child – a first approximation

To try everything; to tell or not to tell

What makes a child your own?

Drawing together


Chapter 3. Better safe than sorry


Uncomfortable relations

Legislative process: acts and revisions

Artificial insemination by donor – pro et contra

Bringing the past to the present

The making of a law

The first revision – 1994

Second and third revisions: 2003 and 2007

In sum


Chapter 4. The inviolability of motherhood


Establishing parenthood

Of eggs and sper

Mater semper certa est

Disruptive effects

Pater vero?  Turning the tables

By way of conclusion


Chapter 5. The sorting society: knowledge, selection, ethics


Reproductive choice

The sorting society

A parliamentary incident

Looking back: a few comments on eugenics

The law and the Church

Ethical dilemmas/ethical publicity

Some final remarks


Chapter 6. Concluding reflections – and a Postscript


Global reach – local appropriation

Facts and values

Controversies – contested sites

Post script – legal (un)certainties


Chapter 7. Some notes on  methodology

References
Public documents cited or consulted