Sun, Sep 15 2013 02:29
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Whose Womb is it Anyway?
A Battle of Ideas Satellite Event
7.00 pm, Wednesday 6th November 2013, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN
Speakers:
Dr Pam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University
Vicki Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Gateway Family Services
Chair:
Dr Helene Guldberg
Public health advice to women who plan to become, or who are, pregnant increasingly emphasises the effects of their choices about their lives, or their circumstances, on long term outcomes for the child, with everything from coffee consumption to language skills examined for negative effects. Policy documents suggest that how the mother lives and behaves from conception onwards can affect how her child learns, earns, and becomes part of society and at the same time there is increased emphasis on the need for intervention and support services. By implication, a huge responsibility for the problems of society is now focussed on the pregnant woman. Is it right that she be expected to bear this burden, either alone, or with expert help and advice? Or is it reasonable for society to demand certain responsibilities for the unborn? Are we becoming too focussed on the developing foetus at the expense of the mother’s autonomy?
We ask for a £5 donation to cover our costs. This can either be made on the door or via the EventBrite link.
Pregnant women aren't incubators so why does medical advice treat them as though they are? - Jennie Bristow, The Independent, June 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/pregnant-women-arent-incubators--so-why-does-medical-advice-treat-them-as-though-they-are-8646309.html
Evaluation of Lay Support in pregnant women with Social Risk (ELSIPS): a randomised controlled study - S Kenyon, K Jolly, and others, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Vol 12, February 2012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349581/
How much of pregnancy health advice is plain old prejudice and fear? - Glosswitch, The New Statesman, August 2013
http://www.newstatesman.com/health/2013/08/how-much-pregnancy-health-advice-plain-old-prejudice-and-fear
Advocating alcohol abstinence to pregnant women: Some observations about British policy - Dr Pam Lowe and Dr Ellie Lee, Health Risk and Society Vol 12 Issue 4, July 2010
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