About Alison Reiheld

Alison Reiheld is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville and co-President (with Perry Zurn) of the Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST).

FAB Affinity Group session at ASBH in September on crossover between feminist bioethics and disability bioethics
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We are very excited to announce details on the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics affinity group session (organized by Lindsey Grubbs, Case Western Reserve University) at ASBH 2024, which will take place from 1-2pm CST on Friday, Sept. 20. We have … Continue reading

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Reminder that informed consent can be violated in subtle ways we have to watch out for, especially for minoritized women
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Bioethics / medical ethics folks, and people who work on reproduction, obstetrics, and gynecology may want this on their radar: Black women with sickle cell anemia pressured to undergo sterilization. It’s clearly not forced sterilization, and more like coerced sterilization … Continue reading

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Obstructing access to gender affirming care in Missouri: the Missouri Attorney General’s “emergency order” goes into effect today, and it’s not about informed consent or protecting kids
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UPDATE: A number of advocacy groups have sued to prevent the rule from going into effect, including the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and Southampton Community Healthcare in St. Louis. The petition says “The Rule targets gender-affirming care with unprecedented … Continue reading

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Health Disparities Highlighted by COVID-19 Also Show Up In Other Conditions: America’s Amputation Crisis
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In the United States, a new and troubling health disparity has arisen: Black folks are a disproportionate share of COVID-19 mortality. This highlights existing, background disparities that make some folks more vulnerable than others to the ravages of illness. This … Continue reading

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UPDATE for FAB Congress on Oral Presentation paper times: NOT just 10 minutes

FAB 2020 virtual conference presenters: Please note that the error regarding shortened presentation times has been corrected, and even though the online form might say that you have ten minutes for your presentation (for example), you actually have your original … Continue reading

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The Desperate Measure of Womb Removal in Healthy Young Women in Rural India
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Whenever we see stories about the “plight” of women in developing nations, it’s critically important to step back and ask whether the journalistic framing is rooted in condescending colonialism, painting a picture of a problem as affecting women in the … Continue reading

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Feminist bioethicists and disability theorists speak out on Russia’s use of CRISPR to alter hereditary deafness
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Over at Canada’s Impact Ethics blog, feminist bioethicists and disability theorists Teresa Blankmeyer Burke and Jackie Leach Scully reflect on the Russian project to use CRISPR technologies to “correct a mutation that leads to hereditary deafness.” Blankmeyer Burke and Scully … Continue reading

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Megan Rapinoe and Joy in the Bodies We Have
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“Close your knees, girl!” –my Aunt Carolyn to me, age 6 “You’re such a monster!”  “Yeah, Crane monster!”  “Cranemonster!” –kids when I played soccer/football hard during PE (my maiden name: Crane) “Not only is there a typical style of throwing … Continue reading

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At last, hormonal birth control affecting sperm production is on the horizon
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For decades, feminists and feminist bioethicists in particular have been pointing out that male responsibility for birth control is essentially limited to barrier methods, e.g. condoms, and to withdrawal. While condoms have the advantage of also reducing the transmission of … Continue reading

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Unethical Care for Laboring Women in British Prisons and for Indigenous Women in Canada
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Alas, I am getting ready to go to FAB Congress in Bangalore, India soon, so I don’t have the time to  craft a full argument on two news stories about reproductive ethics that came to my attention this past week.  … Continue reading

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Society is too slow to learn what learned people look like: Black women ARE what a doctor looks like
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Two years ago, in the wake of an incident in which a black woman doctor attempted to render medical aid and was dismissed due to doubt that she was a physician, IJFAB Blog featured a post on the issue of … Continue reading

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Patience with the blog, please
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Hello, folks. Sometime in the past day or two, one of the blog’s authors was hacked.  Someone then posted a series of semi-random posts backdated for several months. In most case we have seen that people who use it – … Continue reading

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