Examine the impact and importance reproduction and genetics have on religious values Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine: Empowering Discernment explains the mystery of the God-human relationship so ministers, priests, and pastors can follow the ethics and mechanics of counseling human reproductive health and be informed on issues of religion, medical experimentation, and politics. The unique book is a teaching text and a desktop reference for clergypersons and pastoral care ministers, providing them with information on the sensitive and intimate topic of reproductive health from a Christian worldview so they can advise and empower congregation members to make thoughtful decisions about health care. Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine examines four disciplines through a Christian point of view: 1) religion based on humanity created in the image of God; 2) different varieties of ethics; 3) systems of law and politics; and 4) philosophies on experimental medicines. Each topic is grounded with its religious background, providing a practical, easy-to-follow path for Christian thinkers. The book also addresses the concerns a religious person might have about health and ministry, what genetic therapy can accomplish, the alternatives to genetic therapy, and how theology, ethics, law, and medicine apply to the issues expectant mothers face. Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine examines: the major points in recognized ethical theories how Christian principles became part of secular law over time the legal dilemmas involved in protecting the health of pregnant women how and why palliative care is a viable alternative to modern therapies the politics and morality of terminating a pregnancy how to protect women from becoming research instruments the moral status of the embryo and much more Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine explains God’s desire for good health by identifying ways in which Jesus is the example of what it means for every person to be created in the image of God. The book is a vital resource for clergypersons and pastoral care ministers.

A searing study of how modern reproductive politics shapes women's bodily agency Pregnancy indisputably takes place within a woman's body. But as reproductive power finds its way into the hands of medical professionals, lobbyists, and policymakers, the geographies of pregnancy are shifting, and the boundaries need to be redrawn, argues Laura R. Woliver. The Political Geographies of Pregnancy is a vigorous analysis of the ways modern reproductive politics are shaped by long-standing debates on abortion and adoption, surrogacy arrangements, new reproductive technologies, medical surveillance, and the mapping of the human genome. Across a politically charged backdrop of reproductive issues, Woliver exposes strategies that claim to uphold the best interests of children, families, and women but in reality complicate women's struggles to have control over their own bodies. Utilizing feminist standpoint theory and promoting a feminist ethic of care, Woliver looks at abortion politics, modern adoption laws that cater to male-headed families, regulations that allow the state to monitor pregnant women but not always provide care for them, and the power structures behind the seemingly benign world of egg-selling and surrogate parenting. She also considers the potentially staggering political implications of mapping the human genome, and the exclusion of women's perspectives in discussions about legislation and advancements in reproductive technologies.

Rich with the voices and stories of participants, these touching, firsthand accounts examine how women of diverse racial, ethnic, class and religious backgrounds perceive prenatal testing, the most prevalent and routinized of the new reproducing technologies. Based on the author's decade of research and her own personal experiences with amniocentesis, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus explores the "geneticization" of family life in all its complexity and diversity.

Raising hopes for disease treatment and prevention, but also the specter of discrimination and "designer genes," genetic testing is potentially one of the most socially explosive developments of our time. This book presents a current assessment of this rapidly evolving field, offering principles for actions and research and recommendations on key issues in genetic testing and screening. Advantages of early genetic knowledge are balanced with issues associated with such knowledge: availability of treatment, privacy and discrimination, personal decision-making, public health objectives, cost, and more. Among the important issues covered: Quality control in genetic testing. Appropriate roles for public agencies, private health practitioners, and laboratories. Value-neutral education and counseling for persons considering testing. Use of test results in insurance, employment, and other settings.

Contemplating Maternity explore how discourses of choice shape and are shaped by womenOs identities and experiences as (non)mothers and how those same discourses affect and reflect private practices and public policies related to reproduction and motherhood. This volume is unique because it investigates discourses of choice across the arc of maternity and as enacted through various (non)maternal subject positions.