<p>The Supreme Court of the United States (handily referred to in short as SCOTUS) <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-22/anti-prostitution-rule-questioned-by-u-s-supreme-court-1-.html">heard arguments</a> on April 22, 2013, weighing speech rights of grant-receiving non-profit organizations against the rights of the U.S. government to put restrictive conditions on the grants which they give.  At issue is whether the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for Inte

<p>Whether or not women have access to safe termination of pregnancy is a critical issue for women’s health. In Australia, access to termination of pregnancy is governed by a patchwork of state laws. Many states still have abortion listed under nineteenth crimes act, creating the situation in which abortion is illegal unless certain conditions are met. These conditions may be specified in the various acts, or have been determined through case law. They usually relate to the l

<p>The New York Times editorial page of April 3, 2013 cautions against putting too much stock in comments by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “critical of the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. It is not the judgment that was wrong, but “it moved too far, too fast,” she said at Columbia Law School last year, a view she has expressed in various speeches and law review articles.” Ginsburg’s comments are being used by those opposed to marriage equal

<p>The “Ashley treatment” (as Ashley’s parents and doctors have dubbed it) is a combination of hormone treatments and surgical procedures that Ashley, then a six-year old girl with profound cognitive and physical disabilities, underwent with the aim of attenuating the growth and inhibiting aspects of sexual development.  The procedure involves treatment with massive does of estrogen, and the removal of breast buds and uterus (leaving ovaries in place).   The parents requested

<p>a href=http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/health/bionic-hands/index.html?hpt=hp_t1This article/a by Danielle Dellorto reports on the experience of Jason Koger, the first double amputee to receive a new, incredibly sensitive bionic hand, the i-Limb Ultra Revolution (by Touch Bionics). This prosthetic is far more dexterous than previous models &hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://www.ijfab.org/blog/2013/04/one-hand-holding-the-other/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav

<p>During my early years in bioethics I paid a first-time visit to a nursing home. After talking with the director of the home and visiting the patient’s rooms, something caught my eye and I decided to ask him about it. “It’s mainly women here,” I said, “where are the men?” “Oh, they are outside,” he responded, “in the cemetery.” That was my introduction at first hand to the longevity gap between men and women and to the fact that, though living longer than men, that benefit

<p>Dear Fabsters,</p> <p>I would like to let you know of a wonderful place to spend part of a sabbatical or to come for a couple of months to do research in peace. This is my second visit to the Brocher Foundation in Geneva and it is really a wonderful place to work. I encourage everybody to <a href="http://www.brocher.ch/en/?">take a look at the site</a> and think about submitting a project. The staff is very nice and helpful and the place is a little piece of paradise… a be

<p>Do not get me wrong, research dollars are always welcome. When President Obama announced a decade long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain, it was greeted with enthusiasm. After all, it appears as if the Human &hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://www.ijfab.org/blog/2013/04/brain-research-initiative-is-flashy-science-winning-again/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&rarr;</span></a></p> <div style="padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px

<p>In her ethnography of manic depression <i>Bipolar Explorations: Mania and Depression in American Culture</i>, anthropologist Emily Martin notes that in the various support groups in which she participated for her study, people used the DSM [<i>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</i>] categories to talk about their illnesses rather than talking about their inner psychic states. Martin, herself “living under the description of bipolar,” realizes that while

<p>The proposed <a href="http://fox4kc.com/2013/03/27/proposed-kan-bill-calls-for-hiv-positive-people-to-be-quarantined/">rewording and amendment</a> of Kansas House Bill 2183, which, having passed the Kansas Senate, is now making its way through the state legislature, is sounding alarms in the HIV/AIDS communities &#8212; and with good reason.  Although originally intended to assist first responders who might, by virtue of their work, be potentially at risk of contracting HI

<p><a title="A recent commentary" href="http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/06/17213836-10000-to-abort-surrogacy-case-reveals-moral-holes-bioethicist-says?lite">A commentary</a> by Art Caplan alerted me to the recent case of a “surrogate” offered $10,000 to abort the fetus she was carrying, “Baby S.&#8221; After meeting with a couple through an agency, Surrogacy International, Crystal Kelley signed on to gestate their frozen embryos, one of which survived. Unfortunately,