Women as collateral damage: A critique of egg harvesting for cloning research

SynopsisPublic debate on human cloning fails to recognise the centrality of women and their bodies to this technology. Without a continuous supply of eggs cloning is impossible. I begin this article with an examination of the health risks associated with egg extraction. In a context of powerful social and economic forces with a vested interest in women's decisions about their eggs, I question the rhetoric of choice and the meaningfulness of informed consent. There are serious ethical and social policy implications for the status of women raised by egg supply proposals such as altruistic donation, surplus IVF eggs and commercial incentives. The risks to women are tolerated in the name of a technology whose therapeutic value is highly contested and which offers no health benefits to the supplier herself. This reflects a view of women as the collateral damage of a scientific imperative that must be privileged seemingly at any cost.