Philosophy Conferences and Calls for Papers

HIV/AIDS has ethical and legal implications for reproductive health, not least in the area of pregnancy. Women who are HIV positive may experience difficult choices about whether and how to become pregnant or remain pregnant. Women who are HIV positive and decide to become pregnant may be subjected to overt or subtle negative pressures by partners, families, the community, and the state on account of perceived duties about protecting the health and welfare of yet to be born children. The availability of HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy, and abortion is apt to impact on the freedom to decide whether or not to continue with a pregnancy. In recent times, ‘routine’ HIV testing has been suggested as an appropriate response in countries with a high HIV prevalence. In some settings, access to health care services, such as fertility services, is contingent upon the woman agreeing to undergo HIV testing. Thus, the intersection between HIV/AIDS and pregnancy raises myriad ethical and legal issues.

We invite submissions on all aspects of this special topic from a bioethical and/or legal/human rights perspective. Submissions should ultimately seek to illuminate the parameters of reproductive autonomy at the intersection between HIV/AIDS and pregnancy. Issues of particular interest include, but are not limited to, ethical and legal challenges in:
(a) Mandatory and routine HIV testing
(b) HIV screening
(c) Abortion and adoption counselling
(d) Access to reproductive health services, which is contingent upon HIV testing
(e) Fairness and transparency in access to abortion services, including operationalising indications for abortion in the context of HIV, such as the therapeutic and rape indications
(f) Access to antiretroviral therapy
(g) Stigma against HIV+ pregnant women

Submission deadline: 1 July 2007. Submissions should use footnotes conforming to the Developing World Bioethics style, as outlined on the journal’s web page at www.blackwellpublishing.com/dwb. The word limit for papers is 5,500 words, inclusive of footnotes and abstract. Manuscripts should be submitted online by visiting http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dwb and following the online instructions. Alternatively, a link is available on the Developing World Bioethics web page. Please indicate in your covering letter that your submission is for the ‘HIV/AIDS, Pregnancy and Reproductive Autonomy: Rights and Duties’ special issue. We welcome early discussion of brief proposals/abstracts (maximum 250 words). These can be sent by email to: ngwenac.HUM@mail.uovs.ac.za. Please indicate ‘HIV/AIDS, Pregnancy and Reproductive Autonomy’ in the subject line.

Developing World Bioethics is now in the position to publish accepted manuscripts online, prior to hard-copy publication. This has been made possible by Blackwell Publishing’s EarlyOnline publication system, accessible through its Synergy website. This advance-of-print system means that articles will be available to cite soon after acceptance, and prior to their publication in the journal hard-copy itself. The manuscript published online will be the final article and will be cited using a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number. Following publication of the hard copy of the journal the DOI versions will be replaced by the manuscript as compiled in the hard copy of the journal (ie. with vol, issue, page no.s). This system will reduce the time between manuscript acceptance and publication and will be of benefit to all associated with Developing World Bioethics.