6 research outputs found

    Exploring Pronatalism and Assisted Reproduction in UK Medicine

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    Globally, procreation is highly valued, and motherhood has long been seen as the normative role for women. Production of a biologically-related family in keeping with social norms is a key driver of the growing demand for assisted reproductive technologies as a ‘cure’ for infertility, which includes the provision of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). In this paper I argue that pronatalism – a social bias in favour of biological motherhood – entrenches harmful social norms for women as a group. I will question whether assisted reproductive technologies in the form of IVF bring radical change to women, or whether radical change is in fact required before assisted reproductive technologies can be considered to be liberating. I will explore whether the NHS access criteria for IVF are enabling or restrictive of women’s reproductive autonomy, paying particular attention to how the restrictions on sexuality and age contribute to this debate. I argue that despite the social harms of pronatalist bias, eliminating public funding of IVF would wrongfully target those women who are reproductively marginalised, for example, same-sex couples, trans groups, women of advanced maternal age and women who are unable to pay for treatment. Instead, I argue that access to IVF within the NHS should be maintained, but I propose amendments that ensure that the service is more equitably distributed to those in same-sex couplings. Further, I suggest ways that IVF can be included in a wider range of measures that tackle the social issues of infertility in women of advanced maternal age. Finally, I make recommendations for the medical profession to help reduce pronatalist bias, ensuring maximum autonomy for women when they are considering their reproductive futures

    Transcriptome Analysis of the Arabidopsis Megaspore Mother Cell Uncovers the Importance of RNA Helicases for Plant Germline Development

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    Germ line specification is a crucial step in the life cycle of all organisms. For sexual plant reproduction, the megaspore mother cell (MMC) is of crucial importance: it marks the first cell of the plant “germline” lineage that gets committed to undergo meiosis. One of the meiotic products, the functional megaspore, subsequently gives rise to the haploid, multicellular female gametophyte that harbours the female gametes. The MMC is formed by selection and differentiation of a single somatic, sub-epidermal cell in the ovule. The transcriptional network underlying MMC specification and differentiation is largely unknown. We provide the first transcriptome analysis of an MMC using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana with a combination of laser-assisted microdissection and microarray hybridizations. Statistical analyses identified an over-representation of translational regulation control pathways and a significant enrichment of DEAD/DEAH-box helicases in the MMC transcriptome, paralleling important features of the animal germline. Analysis of two independent T-DNA insertion lines suggests an important role of an enriched helicase, MNEME (MEM), in MMC differentiation and the restriction of the germline fate to only one cell per ovule primordium. In heterozygous mem mutants, additional enlarged MMC-like cells, which sometimes initiate female gametophyte development, were observed at higher frequencies than in the wild type. This closely resembles the phenotype of mutants affected in the small RNA and DNA-methylation pathways important for epigenetic regulation. Importantly, the mem phenotype shows features of apospory, as female gametophytes initiate from two non-sister cells in these mutants. Moreover, in mem gametophytic nuclei, both higher order chromatin structure and the distribution of LIKE HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 were affected, indicating epigenetic perturbations. In summary, the MMC transcriptome sets the stage for future functional characterization as illustrated by the identification of MEM, a novel gene involved in the restriction of germline fate
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