Making Babies: Is There a Right to Have Children? [Paperback]

Mary Warnock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2003

Is there a such thing as a universal right to have children? Should medical assistance to have children be available to everyone? Are all methods of assisted reproduction legitimate?
Mary Warnock steers a clear path through the web of complex issues underlying these questions. She analyzes what it means to claim something as a "right," examines the ethical problems faced by particular types of assisted reproduction, including artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, and surrogacy, and argues that in the future human cloning may well become a viable and acceptable form of treatment for some types of infertility.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Review from previous edition In this book Mary Warnock discusses legal, natural, and ethical rights with particular references to human reproductive rights, and the right of access to the new reproductive technologies ... Essential reading for all.'' Professor Sir Malcolm MacNaughton

`... a combination of common sense and clear, rigorous and, above all, honest, argument.' Mark Rowlands, TLS

`... a remarkable and revealing book.' Derek Morgan, THLS

`... the book is sprightly reading and food for serious thought. It would provide a good basis for discussion in high schools, colleges, and book clubs.' Nature

`This is a well-informed and fair-minded contribution to an ongoing debate. It should be required reading for anyone intending to become a GP or a geneticist. More importantly, it is written in jargon-fee language that is readily comprehensible to the non-specialist reader.' Scotland on Sunday

`... powerful little book.' Dea Birkett, The Independent

`Warnock is delightfully clear-eyed - no mindless jargon or mind-numbing theory in this elegant book.' Sylvia Ann Hewlett, New Statesman

`[Mary Warnock] writes with such lucidity that it is a pleasure to read her... This is practical philosophy as it should be written: concise, elegant and comprehensible. ... her book is a masterpiece of faultless clarity, that will enable everyone to think better about the ethical problems of the new technology. It is by far the best introduction to the subject.'' Theodore Dalrymple, The Sunday Telegraph

`Warnock manages to communicate a wealth of accumulated insight into the ethics of assisted reproduction.' Susanne Gibson, Analytic Teaching

`... a 'quick read' and a rather enjoyable one. No academic apparatus. No clutter.' Anthony Fisher

About the Author

Mary Warnock's work in academic philosophy includes the books Imagination, Memory, and Existentialism. Much of her career was spent at Oxford University, and she was later Mistress of Girton College Cambridge. She was made a life peer in 1985, and chaired the Committee of Enquiry into Human Fertilization and Embryology, whose report formed the basis of legislation in the United Kingdom. Her most recent book is her autobiography, Mary Warnock: A Memoir.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192805002
• ISBN-13: 978-0192805003
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,006,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Making Babies', December 6, 2005

By 

David Morris - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Babies: Is There a Right to Have Children? (Hardcover)

Mary Warnock undertakes a large but manageable task in discussing the issues surrounding 'Making Babies' and delivers an impressive summary. Warnock treats issue with compassion, fairness and careful consideration, making it difficult to disagree with her conclusions. She is clearly very well informed on the subject and uses her wealth of knowledge on the subject to make fair judgements. An enjoyable, thought-provoking read which proved very helpful in reaching a personal ethical opinion on the issue of 'Making Babies'

4.0 out of 5 stars A rational consideration of assisted human reproduction ethics, December 25, 2010

By 

Vincent L. Londini (London, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Babies: Is There a Right to Have Children? (Paperback)

Mary Warnock sensibly navigates the ethical questions surrounding assisted human reproduction. She concludes there is no right to have children...

...but that for those who feel an intense desire to rear their own biological offspring, the medical profession is well within its compassionate mission to assist. She offers carefully balanced assessments of the grounds from which human rights arise and the implications of them.

Her closing argument against the language of rights is compelling, "I would deplore any tendency for people to become so much obsessed with their right to have a child...that they forget the old sense of astonishment and gratitude that came with the birth of a child. Gratitude to whom? Well, to God or nature, or the midwife or the doctor, or the principle of continuity and the renewal of life itself. It does not matter. But...gratitude is something you do not feel when all you have got is what is owed."

Warnock considers assertions that assisted reproduction as used by couples, single-parents, and gay/lesbian parents harms others, offering useful commentary on the vital issue of the good of the child. She further addresses hot-button topics including cloning and allegations that assisted reproduction is akin to "playing God."

She navigates a complex issue, arriving at a rational position that generally supports the would-be parent's pursuit of assisted reproduction. Her qualifications to comment arise from her thorough understanding of the topic, her work as an ethicist/philosopher, and particularly her ongoing leadership and involvement in the UK's public discussion around assisted reproduction.

At just over 100-pages, Warnock's text makes for a quick and thoughtful read. As a father of three, all concieved via IVF, I enjoyed her book both for her thoughtful treatment and her conclusions.