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Did the women’s movement get hijacked? Former Cosmopolitan writer and Subverted author Sue Ellen Browder says yes, and she says she helped do it. In this eye-opening conversation, Sue shares what she witnessed inside Cosmopolitan during the height of the sexual revolution, how media narratives helped reshape American views on sex, marriage, motherhood, and abortion, and why she believes the women’s movement became fused with abortion politics. We discuss the influence of figures such as Betty Friedan, Larry Lader, Simone de Beauvoir, and Kate Millett, the origins of modern feminism, the role of propaganda in shaping public opinion, and what Sue uncovered in her research into Roe v. Wade. Was the sexual revolution an organic cultural shift or a carefully Read More ›

AI gets most of the attention, but biotechnology may be even more impactful on the human future. Indeed, I think it is the most powerful technology since the splitting of the atom — perhaps even in history, as it has the potential to literally alter the human race or any cell/organism — which could cure diseases or unleash an unstoppable pandemic. Attention must be paid. Some biotechnologists are intent on pursuing radical biotechnologies — whether to eliminate disease, or as I expect to become the bigger, more remunerative draw, to create designer babies enhanced to be smarter, more beautiful, or otherwise made to order — regardless of the ethical questions. A long piece in The Guardian illustrates the stakes we Read More ›

Egg freezing is sold as empowerment. A way to “pause” fertility, focus on career and relationships, and have children later on your own timeline. But what if that promise isn’t as secure as women are being told? In this explosive episode of Bioethics Babe, Jennifer Lahl, founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network and director of the documentary Eggsploitation, exposes the risks, realities, and ethical questions surrounding the rapidly growing egg freezing industry. We discuss: Is egg freezing truly empowering women, or is it selling the illusion that biology can be postponed without consequence? This conversation dives into the science, ethics, medicine, and cultural assumptions behind one of the fastest-growing reproductive technologies in the world. For Episode Resources, Read More ›

In a newly released paper in the prestigious journal Bioethics, three prominent bioethicists argue that when someone decides to commit suicide via self-starvation and dehydration — known in euthanasia movement parlance as “voluntary stop eating and drinking” (VSED) — doctors should be allowed to “terminally sedate” the person trying to die when necessary to prevent intractable suffering. Patients who commit VSED are often not terminally ill. In fact, euthanasia organizations promote self-starvation to the elderly who are not dying and as a means of becoming eligible for assisted suicide where it is legal by making oneself “terminal” via lack of sustenance. VSED must be distinguished from the common circumstance when actively dying people stop eating. That’s a natural process and Read More ›

Environmentalism is growing increasingly radical and irrational, epitomized by the “nature rights” movement that seeks to declare geological features, flora, and fauna to be rights-bearing beings. Nature rights activists proselytize neoearth religion. Advocates often invoke mystical beliefs of indigenous peoples as justifications for their advocacy, including the invocation of “Pachamama,” the Incan earth goddess. Some activists even claim that the earth is alive. Now, an article in the environmental journal PLOS Climate claims that “glaciers are more than human beings” — what I guess we could call glacier exceptionalism: In the context of accelerating climate change and widespread ecological degradation, there is growing academic and legal interest in reframing natural entities—such as glaciers—as more-than-human beings. This conceptual turn challenges anthropocentric Read More ›

In Lane County, Ore., an attempt to grant rights to nature — specifically, to grant “watersheds” the right to “exist, flourish, regenerate and naturally evolve, free from contamination and degradation,” was rejected by voters, 63-37. Why did this attempt fail where nature rights referenda have elsewhere succeeded? Because opponents took it seriously. From the Your Oregon News story: Rob Dickinson, spokesperson for proponents of the measure, attributed its defeat to the ubiquity of advertisements raising fears about the initiative’s effects. Betsy Schultz, grass roots coordinator for opponents of the measure, said the healthy fundraising to defeat the measure reflected the strength of the arguments against the initiative. “Both the breadth of the coalition and the amount of funds that we Read More ›

What happens when science gains the power not only to heal human life, but to redesign it? Scientists are now creating lab-made embryos from stem cells, experimenting with three-parent embryos, pursuing gene editing technologies like CRISPR, and exploring ways to grow human life outside the womb. What once sounded like science fiction is rapidly becoming reality. In this episode of Bioethics Babe, internationally recognized stem cell researcher and bioethics expert Dr. David Prentice of the Science Alliance for Life and Technology (SALT) exposes the ethical dangers behind lab-made embryos, designer babies, germline gene editing, fetal tissue research, embryo selection, IVF commodification, and modern eugenics. We discuss: At what point does medicine stop treating disease and start redefining what kinds of Read More ›

Serious moves are afoot to allow ending the lives of dementia patients, either by allowing them to be killed by lethal jab euthanasia if requested in a written advance directive (where legal), or to allow a document to be signed requiring caregivers to withhold sufficient food and water to sustain life. New Jersey seems to move subtly in the latter direction with a vaguely worded bill, S.B. 4186, that could open the door to intentional legal undernourishment. From the bill: It is the public policy of this State to respect the dignity, autonomy, and previously expressed wishes of individuals living with dementia by authorizing Dementia-Specific Advance Directives (DSADs), establishing clear standards for “comfort feeding only,” and ensuring that such directives Read More ›

The United States is in a cultural crisis. Our young are experiencing unprecedented levels of mental illness. Family structures are crumbling with out-of-wedlock births increasing while, at the same time, the number of children being born is decreasing. Some worry about masculinity under attack while others believe that “toxic masculinity” is the cause of most problems. Many are even worried Read More ›

The attacks on one of the fundamental essences of being human — free will — continue apace. The latest example can be found in the BBC’s Science Focus feature, in which Stanford biology professor Robert Sapolsky — a recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant for his work on the physiological effects of stress — redefines us as merely robotic biological machines incapable of making truly free decisions. We only think we “could have done otherwise” than what we did, claims Sapolsky. From the BBC interview: Acting on something and knowing you could have done otherwise is often necessary and sufficient to decide that free has just happened. Where I come in pulling my hair out is that doing that misses Read More ›