Making women visible in the embryo experimentation debate

Rowland contends that threats to the welfare of women have received too little attention in discussions about embryo experimentation. The first group of egg donors for this purpose would be women in in vitro fertilization programs, women who are vulnerable to emotional coercion by doctors interested in superovulation for the purpose of gaining spare embryos. Furthermore, the masculine emphasis on control and dominance that characterizes science will inevitably lead ?researchers to transplant experimental embryos to check on the results of their manipulations. Other elements of the social context that raise the potential for abuse of women's bodies are the increasing commercialization of reproductive technologies and the increasing control by the male-dominated medical profession over the process of procreation. Finally, there is danger that it will become routine policy to screen all embryos for abnormalities and to "improve" them if abnormalities are found.