mixed blessing?
With lurid stories in the media of 'cloning' and trans-species
experimentation, plus cases
such as that of 'Baby Cotton' involving the use of' surrogate mothers, new reproductive technology has aroused tremendous debate.
LEONORA LLOYD looks
Tat the benefits and drawbacks for women of the new advances being made. Some feminists see the new scientific developments in the sphere of reproduction as an attack on the autonomy and bodies of women. Right-wingers often condemn these developments as an attack on marriage and the family, on god-given 'nature' itself. Certainly the questions raised are important for everybody
The new reproductive technology is mainly used to alleviate infertility, to identify and treat certain conditions before or shortly after conception, to select sex and to try and prevent certain conditions altogether. It is generally taken to cover in vitro fertilisation (IVF) - popularly and misleadingly called 'test tube babies', surrogacy, gene manipulation, and variations, combinations of these techniques.
Most of the stories which have hit the headlines concern infertility, a problem thought to affect an increasing number of people. (One in six couples need some help to conceive although of course not all these are actually infertile). Factors throught to affect female infertility include the use of the contraceptive pill and the later age at which many women are choosing to have their first baby.
A common cause of infertility affecting an estimated 100,000 women in Britain is blocked fallopian tubes. Others have problems with their ovaries. Male infertility is being increasingly recognised. So too is the possibility of environmentally-induced causes from our industrial society for both 1 22 men and women although little in-
M SAY to the ANTI-SEX LOBBY Demonstration against Victoria Gillick, 1985. vestigation has been done and only hundreds out of many thousands of industrial chemicals have been tested for their effects on fertility.
In the case of men, they may produce no sperm at all, their sperm count may be very low, or their sperm may have "low mobility' or be damaged in some way. Treatment is by some form
insemination', either the partner's sperm, a donor's
even a mixture, with a syringe
lenny Matthews/Format I TRAI LICK RUM 15000 iay NO employed to introduce the sperm at the right time in the woman's cycle. This is not a new technique - it was first recorded as having been used by a Scottish doctor, John Hunter,
This technique allows women without male partners to become pregnant, for example lesbians. The right has
insemination by donor, as little better than adultery, and certainly not a technique that
International No 9 March/April 1987
U ... ve available for the unmarried.
However, it is so simple that self- insemination groups have been set up. (One new danger is AIDS and potential donors should first be tested to ensure they are free from any infection).
Sperm can be frozen and so men can arrange for storage of sperm before undergoing chemical therapy, for instance and commercial sperm stores have already been set up in the States to enable women to choose 'super babies' fathered by 'great achievers'!
In Britain, there is a real shortage of clinics dealing with infertility in NHS and private treatment is prohibitively expensive for most people. There is currently a 12-year wait for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) including the time for investigation and trying other forms of treatment. That means that 18,000 women need to be treated in a year just to cope with the current situation, with more coming forward for help all the time
One NHS clinic in Manchester is seeing six women a week for IVF treatment and has a four-year waiting list, as is the case at Hammersmith Hospital, the major NHS treatment centre. By the end of 1985, there were ten NHS hospitals offering IVF, half of them in London. A further six private hospitals were charging around £1000£2000 an attempt, and up to three attempts may be needed, before chances are ruled out altogether. (There are now a total of 20 centres, both private and NHS).
The success rate has reached about 40 per cent according to an 1984 study of 58 IVF teams working world-wide. Certain risks are involved for the woman because of the drugs and anaesthetics used, because of the danger of repeated ruptures of her ovaries as eggs are extracted and because of the chance of a multiple pregnancy. Infertililty programmes sometimes involve the use of surrogacy (ie one woman carrying a foetus for another). Egg, sperm or both may be donated, either by the 'commissioning couple' or by third parties. In Britain most publicity has centred on commercial surrogacy. In the case of 'Baby Cotton' the surrogate mother was paid £6,500 while the American agency responsible for arranging it was paid a similar amount. Commercial surrogate agencies were outlawed in 1985 in this country (although individuals are not prohibited from acting as surrogate mothers and being paid). They continue, however, in the Us where rich white parents have paid poor immigrant women to carry babies for them.
Surrogacy appears to have gone on informally for centuries between friends and sisters. It has caused controversy now because of its potentially International No 9 March/April 1987
M E N
exploitative aspects. Also it brings conflicts when the 'natural' refuses to give up her child at birth.
The right of a woman who has bourne the pregnancy to keep the child should be supported and there should be as much legal protection for surrogate mothers as possible.
The prevention or cure of genetic development and research. done in several stages. Genetic counselling is now available on the NHS, although facilities are very unevenly distributed throughout the country, and is given where people's medical history merits it. Women can also be tested to detect disorders several weeks into their pregnancy if they are willing to run the current risks of possible a disorder is found they may then opt for an abortion.
Some feminists have been worried by what they see as part of society's aim to create 'perfect' people, thus devaluing people with disabilities. Society indeed discriminates appallingly against disabled people in the provision of housing, jobs, education and in reproduction itself. It is possible, nonetheless, to fight this discrimination while supporting attempts to eliminate painful and distressing illnesses. Ther are undoubtedly great pressures on any woman who is carrying a damaged foetus. It must remain that woman's choice whether to continue or end any pregnancy.
Perhaps the area of most concern to feminists is that of sex education There can be sound medical reasons for wanting to know the sex of the foetus, because a number of disorders are sex-linked, generally to the male. But it is for the selective abortion of female foetuses that the tests are most often used world-wide. Recent reports suggest that some women are using the results of scans to ask for abortions if they are carrying the 'wrong' sex, and some doctors and hospitals are refusing to give out results which indicate sex, except for strictly medical rea-
What of the future? There is no doubt that many women and men feel an enormous pressure and desire to produce children in this society, built as it is around the family unit. The
pressures on women to fulfill their 'biological role' are enormous,
and the way the family system works, often excluding other people from a real share in childcare, often means that women feel that have to produce their own in order to be involved with children.
But there is no doubt that infertility and inherited diseases are serious problems for those who face them. Further, infertile women need treatment whether or not they want children, if they are ill. If help exists women are entitled to it and it should be made accessible to all who need it.
Any arguments against further research which are based on the 'humanity' of the embryo or the sanctity of marriage (insemination by donor seen as adultery for instance) or which deny miscarriage or damage to the foetus. If unmarried women the right to benefit from new reproductive technology must be firmly rejected.
At the same time, arguments against the research from the angle of those who feel profound misgivings about the increasing control of scientists and doctors over women's lives and about the scope for abuses opened up by experiments deserve serious consideration.
In capitalist societies most research is either for military purposes or is commercially funded. And so long as it is left to market forces there will always be cause for concern. So we need guidelines. For feminists and socialists the main questions should be: will this research help to improve the quality of life for at least a group of people, without damaging or exploiting another group? In particular, will it enhance women's role in society and women's self-esteem? Will it increase the ability of women to control their own reproductive lives?
We need to start now to work for greater democratic control over scientific research. For example, the 'ethical committees' already established voluntarily by British scientists should include a majority of lay members and - specifically - a majority of women lay members where the research is into reproduction. And there should be strict guidelines about what areas of research should be pursued, how trials should be conducted, rules about informed consent, and so-on.
Our most important allies in this fight — to control scientists and scientific research — will be scientists themselves, many of whom want to be able to work on projects that will benefit humanity. Only when the research is seen as important to us all and not something to be left to market forces, will we gain control. Those feminists who say 'a plague on all their houses' are leaving us without a strategy for campaigning against the worst manifestations of science. B
FEMINIST BOOKLIST Joni Seager and Ann Olson Women In The World: An International Atlas Pluto Press and Pan Books. £14.95 or £7.95 paperback. Editor, Drude Dahlerup The New Women's Movement - Feminism and Political Power in Europe and the USA Sage. Jenny Beale Women in Ireland: Voices of Change Macmillan. £20 or £6.95 paperback. Anne Philips Divided Loyalties: Dilemmas of Sex and Class Virago. €5.50 paperback. Jan Zimmerman. Once Upon the Future: A Woman's Guide to Tomorrow's Technology. Pandora Paperbacks. £5.95. 23
Filipino women's =
launch a women's party? committed to women's rights. which "ever somers INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW OF NEWS AND ANALYSIS PUBLISHED BY THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIBE NOW! Name Address Country Surface mail: £18 (one year): £9.50 (six months) Airmail: £21 (one year); £13 (six months) Send to: IV, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France (cheques payable to International Viewpoint)
SU P party launched In the 1970s Maita Gomez became famous. A former "beauty queen', she joined the New People's Army, the guerilla force led by the Communist Party of the Philippines. After falling ill she returned to Manila for treatment. She rapidly assumed a major role in the women's movement and the 'national democratic left'. In October 1986 she became the general secretary of the KAIBA, the new women's party in the Philippines. The following interview was given to SONIA RUPON and PAUL PETITJEAN in August 1986, shortly before the launching of KAIBA CAN YOU EXPLAIN why you decided to This party will assure the political edu- cation of women. It will prepare them to take part in the country's political life. It will participate in the elections. It will reinforce women's conscious- ness. The women's party will not only seek to play a symbolic role. It will fight to win the political competition. We want this party to be as strong as possible to force recognition of wo- men's rights. it will be a party deeply convinced Why launch a party today? Because there is an opportunity that has to be grasped. The women's movement is growing. The present situation in the Philippines is very different from that prevails in other countries, programme? where the political field is generally firmly occupied by a small number of traditional parties, making it very dif- ficult for new electoral formations to Under martial law, the Marcos dic- tatorship created a political vacuum something else. our stronger. candidates run on?
LEMEN of all. around itself. Since the fall of the Marcos regime, there is no longer any dominant party in the country. The electoral traditions have to be reconstituted. Everywhere there is a lack of trained and recognised political cadres. There is a vast free space open to
This is a rare opportunity that can- 'rice not be allowed to go by. The situation is exceptional in many respects. We do not claim that what we want to do here may be appropriate in other countries, in other circumstances. But we are
that it is necessary today to launch a women's Could members of the women's party belong to other political parties with a compatible
grow. No. The party will be made up only of women, and dual membership will not be recognised. Our initiative would lose all its meaning if people belonged to the women's party 'in addition to'
We will run candidates in the local elections, and sometimes in the regional ones for governorships, or even in national elections. We will run these candidates to get them elected, not to elect the candidates of another party. We will support progressive male candidates where we are weak. We will demand that the other parties support
candidates where we are
Of course, the members of the women's party will participate in coordinating bodies and movements such as GABRIELA, the Nationalist Alliance, the Bayan coalition of mass organisations, trade unions and associations. What programme will the women's party
We want to show the contribution that women are making to the life of the country. We want their voice to be heard, their rights not to be ignored Women must be made a real political power in Filipino society.
The women's party will put forward the specific demands of women. But it will not limit its activity to the specific area of women's rights. It will collaborate closely with the various causeoriented movements and people's organisations, which will be its natural allies. Women's power is an integral part of people's power.
The women's party will fight for the people; it will address itself to the popular strata and to the middle layers. It will put forward a general nationalist and popular programme to assure the dignity, rights and equality Hore will you combine women's demands and general demands? In struggle. There are distinct demands concerning women and other layers of society. But I do not think there is any dichotomy between the two levels of activity. You can see that in the struggle. Poor women are fighting here for their daily bread, their
Tand fish'. That is perfectly normal. But it immediately poses problems of organisation (childcare and so on) and that creates a collective experience that raises new questions, shakes up traditional values.
I know that it won't all happen in isolation. Women are the 'first and last proletarians'. That is why we are launching the women's party. But you can't have a static vision of things. The women's movement exists. It will
Our party has first to put down roots, to win a genuinely broad base. You have to know how to organise. I learned that in my life as an activist. We will start by agitating on immediately popular questions. We will be radical in action, but we will be less so in our programme on a series of questions such as abortion and divorce.
However, one day we will face these questions head on, even at the expense of losing some popularity among the middle classes. Abortion is common among poor women who can be easily criminalised
A new generation has come into struggle, in the countryside, in the shantytowns, in the factories, in the society. Through its own experience it will advance beyond the high point reached by the previous generations. • This interview is taken from the 9 March 1987 issue of International Viewpoint, a fortnightly magazine published under the auspices of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.
International No 9 March/April 1987
Is