Commodifying the Female body

[Brad DeLong]

>On the Commodification of the Black Female Body: The Critical
>Implications of the Alienability of Fetal Tissue
>Khiara M. Bridges
>
>
>Recent scientific experimentation has revealed that fetal tissue
>yielded from abortions has remarkable therapeutic value. This Note
>posits that the demand for fetal tissue likely will expand to the
>point where the current supply no longer satisfies it. Therefore, in
>order to obtain tissue from women who would not otherwise donate their
>abortuses, should research organizations, pharmaceutical companies,
>and doctors be allowed to offer women a "financial incentive" for
>their fetal tissue? That is, should women be allowed to sell their
>fetal tissue? This Note explores the question from a Critical Race
>Theory perspective. It analyzes the impact that a market in fetal
>tissue will have on Black women, who are more likely to participate in
>such a market due to their precarious economic situation, their higher
>abortion rate, and the effects of internalized oppression. The Note
>concludes that because Black women will be disproportionately
>exploited, as well as disenfranchised from the benefits produced by a
>market in fetal tissue, fetal tissue should not be made market
>alienable.

There are many reasons not to have a market in fetal tissue. But I 
would not have thought that the fact that some Black women as a 
result will become somewhat richer was one of them....

Brad DeLong