"The Impact of Obstetric Fistulas on Economic Empowerment” was the title of a topic dissected by a unique panel discussion held 3 March 2008 in New York City. The medical and socioeconomic impact of obstetric fistulas was considered under the auspices of the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women, with the co-sponsorship of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics.

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics has a new channel on YouTube with details of its events. The channel includes videos of presentations made at a number of past events sponsored by the Center.

Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics, reports on the panel discussion held in New York City by the Center.

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics in New York was started in 2004 by a generous grant from the Louis J. Appignani Foundation. It is truly the first of its kind – a bioethics project dedicated to understanding contemporary bioethical challenges from an explicitly Humanist perspective.

The Women’s Bioethics Project has featured Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Bioethics Center, on its web site. The Project has recruited scholars and public policy analysts from around the world to provide news and commentary on the implications of bioethical issues for women via its blog.

Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics, is to speak to New York City Atheists on Thursday, 30 November 2006. In her talk, she will argue that the religious right is opposing lifesaving advances in gynecology and obstetrics because of its “medieval” attitudes toward sex.

Dr. Lita notes that those representing the Religious Right say they are opposed to vaccinating girls between 11 and 26 years of age with the recently developed Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, which can prevent cervical cancer. “These religious fundamentalists, who describe themselves as champions of marriage and the family, speculate that vaccinating young girls will give these girls the idea to engage in sex before marriage,” says Dr. Lita. “This obsession with virginity before marriage is a characteristic of many fundamentalist religious groups.”

Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics, is to speak at an informal lunch at the UN. She will be speaking at the invitation of the UN Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. The meeting will discuss some of the bioethical controversies surrounding the growth of biotechnology. The diversity and rapid growth of biotechnological applications are creating new possibilities for reshaping our lives, in particular our procreative practices. In this vein, yesterday's questions of "could we?" are quickly being overshadowed by worries of "should we?" Novel developments include human egg markets,tissue and organ transplantation, and the recently announced vaccine for cervical cancer, a disease which kills approximately 300,000 women each year--mostly from the developing world.

Ana Lita is Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics at the United Nations in New York City. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy from Bowling Green State University, U.S. and an M.A. in Sociology through Lancaster University, UK. The author of numerous conference presentations, scholarly and popular publications in the fields of education and ethics, Dr. Lita is recipient of a Soros Foundation Fellowship and a National Association Fellowship for International Scholars.

Ana Lita

Some Questions

The sustained growth of biotechnology has reinforced bullish projections of its potential impact upon humanity. The diversity of biotechnological applications and the speed of their development are continually increasing the efficacy, range, and number of biomedical options. New possibilities for reshaping our lives, our procreative practices, and even our society are becoming less a question of "could we?" than "should we?"

As the present and projected impact of biotechnology continues to expand, so does the import of bioethics and the necessity to support humanist values in the biopolitical debate. The field of bioethics encompasses numerous issues, including the use of condoms and family planning in HIV/AIDS prevention and global development, the legality of stem cell research, the accessibility and direction of long-term biotechnological developments in physiological, psychological, and reproductive healthcare, and the overall freedom of inquiry afforded to medical science. Religious conservatives have recognized the importance of bioethics and have adjusted their intellectual and political infrastructures accordingly. Corporate entities with significant profit interests in these matters have never been timid in exercising their political influence. If the application of biotechnology is to be guided by reason and science, and if its potential is to be realized in the interests of global welfare and human rights, then the proponents of humanist values have to actively engage in the intellectual and political spheres of bioethics. The Inaugural Conference of the IHEUAppignani Center for Bioethics, conducted adjacent to the headquarters of the United Nations, marks a significant development in the participation of the International Humanist and Ethical Union in the important area of bioethics.