Abstract

PINHO, António de; CASTRO, Diana Melo  and  COSTA, Fernanda. The Ob/Gyn’s Tale - A Perspective. Acta Obstet Ginecol Port [online]. 2023, vol.17, n.1, pp.10-12.  Epub Mar 30, 2023. ISSN 1646-5830.

The Handmaid’s Tale series (based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel) has been established as one of the most impacting dramas over the last years. This show approaches dozens of present-day reproduction issues and ethical dilemmas… In a fictional near future, infertility plays a central role. Environmental deterioration, extreme pollution, and sexually transmitted diseases are to blame as both platitudes and mottos to establish a new theological state. The resulting patriarchal system disregards any consequences of male infertility. Female sexual violence, rape and coerced reproduction predominate. Slaves are reduced to their fertility duty, the government executes doctors known to have performed abortions, which are completely forbidden, and female genital mutilation is routinely performed. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the fertility and environmental crisis become a trigger, dramatically affecting the political/social pyramid. Under the shadows of “new laws”, doctors become less and less doctors but mere technicians, blindfolded and hindered of moral insight. Nowadays, standards of care and national/regional laws regarding female health reproduction are extremely wide-ranging. Doctors should reflect: regardless of the setting, is the core of our medical act still intact? Are we practicing a humanistic medicine? Should we be mere scientific practitioners oriented by new and everchanging mutant social obligations?

Keywords : Abortion; Infertility; Legal abortion; Reproductive rights.

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