title: Reproductive technology and the commodification of life.
abstract: This paper suggests that the key unifying concept in the development and application of new reproduction technology has been the increasing commodification of life--treating people and parts of people as marketable commodities. This commodification process is made most dramatically clear in (1) prenatal diagnosis, in which the fetus is treated as a product subject to quality control measures and women are treated as producers without emotional tie to their products and (2) in so-called "surrogacy" arrangements in which an actual price tag is placed on pregnancy, and women sell both their "labor" and their "product."
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000191:economics; D012099:Reproductive Techniques / Q000191:economics*; D013533:Gestational Carriers; D014481:United States