The pleasures of procreation: traditional and biomedical theories of conception
Angus McLaren in Reproductive Rituals, 2020
What was the importance of the continuation of the belief that the two sexes both produced seed? In reviewing the literature in 1755 Michel Procope-Couteau noted that to hold such a view implied that both sexes had to experience pleasure in order to procreate.20 Indeed, in the popular literature, what was most striking was the maintenance of basically Galenic theories of equal responsibility and pleasure in sexual activity.21 Such texts continued to ask the traditional sorts of questions about conception and gestation: do women experience pleasure? How does conception occur? How can it be prevented or encouraged? Can one predetermine the sex of offspring? The new scientific literature of the late seventeenth century shelved these old questions – at least explicitly – and explored the narrower issues of the organization and development of the embryo. Whether or not the scientific approach was free of sexual bias is discussed at the end of this chapter but it is first necessary to provide an account of procreation as described in the traditional texts.
Developing the Reasonability View
Robert F. Card in A New Theory of Conscientious Objection in Medicine, 2020
There is no evidence that Plan B and similar hormonal EC regimens affect an established pregnancy (Glasier 1060).6 Conception represents the start of the process of becoming pregnant; as David Bainbridge says regarding conception, it is “a term to include all the different mechanisms that must act for a pregnancy to be established, of which fertilisation is only one” (Bainbridge 278). His point is that pregnancy is not equivalent to fertilization. Another source states the following regarding EC: “By medical definition, the pills block rather than terminate pregnancy” (Scientific American). The scientific data suggest that hormonal EC operates mainly by inhibiting or disrupting ovulation (Glasier 1063). EC inhibits follicular development and the maturation and release of the ovum itself, thereby preventing fertilization (Glasier 1058). As Anna Glasier puts the point, “It cannot be stressed too strongly that if hormonal emergency contraception works largely by interfering with ovulation, then it cannot be regarded as an abortifacient” (1063). More recent empirical studies of Plan B further undermine the claim that EC's primary mechanism of action is that it works as an abortifacient.
Objections to the Basic Moral Status of Human Embryos
Christopher Kaczor in The Ethics of Abortion, 2023
In some cultures, such as traditional East Mongolia and Japan, age is calculated from conception. Multicultural sensitivity suggests that we not dismiss other cultural practices as “ludicrous.” But it does make more sense to count age from birth for two reasons. The first is that a day of conception will often be impossible to determine. Say a baby is born on July 19th. If the child is not premature, we can know that the baby was conceived sometime in October. But not all couples keep careful track of days they were having sex. Even if a couple knew that they had sex only on one day during the time in which the child was conceived, the date of conception would still not be determined because sperm can fertilize an egg up to five days after intercourse. A birth on July 19th is compatible with a wide range of dates, any of which is possible and none of which can be determined. So, in most cases using a date of conception rather than a date of birth is impossible and impractical. It also makes sense to mark age from birth because birth (typically at least) is a more memorable, dramatic, and public event than conception. But none of these pragmatic considerations leads to the conclusion that before birth a human being is not in existence.
Men, trans/masculine, and non-binary people negotiating conception: Normative resistance and inventive pragmatism
Published in International Journal of Transgender Health, 2020
Damien W. Riggs, Carla A. Pfeffer, Ruth Pearce, Sally Hines, Francis Ray White
For participants who spoke about conceiving via intercourse with a cisgender partner, there was a repeated evocation of normative resistance. Conception as a product of intercourse is typically understood as heterosexual intercourse, and moreover, it is typically understood as involving a female “receptive” and male “insertive” partner. For some participants who were in relationships with cisgender men, however, conception through intercourse involved non-heterosexual intimacies and receptive and insertive partners who were both men/masculine. Of interest in this theme, then, is how participants made recourse to normative tropes to describe intercourse, and in so doing displayed normative resistance to assumptions about what conception as a result of intercourse means and who is involved.
The influence of lunar cycle at the time of conception on sex offspring distribution in dogs
Published in Chronobiology International, 2021
Daniela Alberghina, Mauro Gioè, Marco Quartuccio, Luigi Liotta
The analyses of offspring sex ratios included 150 parturitions that produced 973 offspring (48% females and 52% males) of Labrador Retrievers born in Italy between 2015 and 2020. Bitches had a mean ± SD body weight 32 ± 2.5 kg with an average age of 49.52 months ± 22.50 with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 110 months. We considered day of conception to be 62–64 d before the day of parturition according to the determination of the ovulation peak and to the gestation length reported for large-sized bitches (Eilts et al. 2005). Ovulation was determined by measurements of progesterone concentration in blood (ovulation peak concentration: 5–8 ng/ml), determined by MINI VIDAS® (Biomerieux, France), a compact automated immunoassay system based on the Enzyme-Linked Fluorescent Assay (ELFA) principles.
Cross-National Variation in Knowledge of Ovulation Timing in Sub-Saharan Africa
Published in Women's Reproductive Health, 2020
An often-overlooked area in the literature on menstruation and reproductive health is knowledge of ovulatory phase. A number of studies have investigated the incidence of ovulation using clinical methods (e.g., Metcalf, 1979; Metcalf et al., 1983, 1984); however, they underemphasized the importance of ovulation knowledge among women. Some more recent studies of women’s knowledge of ovulation were conducted in developed countries and generally show that women have limited information about ovulation timing (Ayoola et al., 2016; Lundsberg et al., 2014). Apart from the fact that women often have poor knowledge of conception timing, earlier reports showed that some, including gynecologists and other physicians, are of the view that conception can happen at any point in the menstrual cycle (Ayoola et al., 2016; Burley, 1979). Furthermore, studies of fertility intentions among women have focused on the association between contraceptive use and other prevention techniques with low emphasis on knowledge of ovulation phase or the fertility window (e.g. Bishwajit et al., 2017; Sedgh et al., 2006).
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