A Reproductive Justice Response on Social Egg Freezing.

Abstract

Current bioethical reflections on social egg freezing appear to be dominated by a rights-based perspective, as illustrated by the recent publication by Gao and Liu in this journal. We argue that, to avoid theoretical blindness in this debate, a more reproductive justice-oriented perspective is necessary. In this article, we critically address two interrelated points in response to Gao and Liu's analysis. First, alongside their discussion of reproductive freedom, we introduce a reproductive justice framework to illustrate how intersectional forms of oppression may inhibit individuals from genuinely exercising any "right" to social egg freezing. Second, we highlight the case of weight bias among egg freezing candidates as a pertinent example of social domination in reproductive healthcare, one that exacerbates health inequalities.