Surgery inevitably inflicts some harm on the body. At the very least, it damages the tissue that is cut. These harms often are clearly outweighed by the overall benefits to the patient. However, where the benefits do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjo...

Over a decade ago, the field of bioethics was established in response to the increased control over the design of living organisms afforded by both medical genetics and biotechnology. Since its introduction, bioethics has become established as an academic discipline with journals and professional societies, is covered regularly in the media, and affects people everyday around the globe. In response to the increasing need for information about medical genetics and biotechnology as well as t...

From early writings of our oldest religious traditions through recent controversies surrounding the Hobby Lobby case and the ever-divisive question of abortion, questions of reproduction raise some of the most difficult and fascinating issues in bioethics. Whether in the harsh glare of law, policy, and politics, or in the intimacy of the family, decisions around contraception, abortion, procreation, infertility, assisted reproduction, gamete donation, and surrogacy engage both rel...