The purpose of this section of the website is to inform and encourage debate on subjects of ethical interest, relevant to the specialty of obstetrics and gynaecology.
It contains links to published RCOG guidelines, material on topics of the moment and useful resources.
The RCOG Ethics Committee considers ethical aspects and legal implications of matters of concern affecting the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology.
If you wish to submit a topic for future inclusion or consideration or wish to make a comment, please email the committee secretary Drusilla Wieloch.
Organisations and websites included are unrelated to the RCOG and we cannot accept responsibility for their content.
Hot topics
The following issues have been identifed by the Ethics Committee as topics for discussion. Select a topic from the list below to view useful links, references and where available, documents for discussion.
The Ethics Committee invites feedback on these issues. If you wish to contribute to a discussion, please email your comments and suggestions to Beryl Stevens.
- Cloning
- Elective Caesarean
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Human Rights Act
- Pre-natal Diagnosis
- Violence Against Women
- Sex Selection
- Professional Standards
Cloning
useful links and references
- Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning by Glenn McGee
Actionbioscience.org is a non-commercial, ad-free, educational web site created to promote bioscience literacy. - US National Bioethics Advisory Commission Cloning Human Beings, June 1997
(scroll down to report)
Therapeutic cloning
- CMO’s Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility
- The Ethical Considerations by Ronald M Green published in Scientific American
Elective Caesarean
useful links and references
- Australian Bioethics Information
Caesarean sections emerge as ethics issue - BMJ Education and Debate: Should doctors perform an elective caesarean section on request?
discussion document
Female Genital Mutilation
discussion document
Human Rights Act
discussion document
Pre-natal Diagnosis
useful links and references
- German National Ethic Council
- NDSC Position Statement on Prenatal Testing and Eugenics
- Social and ethical challenges of prenatal diagnosis by Diane Beeson
- Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg, Centre for Research Ethics
- Bioethics in Canada by Roy, Williams and Dickens (table of contents)
discussion document
- Choosing the future: genetics and reproductive decision making, a discussion document published by the Human Genetics Commission in July 2004.
Sex Selection
discussion document
Violence Against Women
useful links and references
- Care and Evidence
Promoting effective care for, and collection of best evidence from, people who have been sexually assaulted. Includes an online training package and test. - Maternal Morbidity and Mortality. Study group recommendations, November 2002
- "One in Six Pregnant Women Has Suffered Domestic Violence". BJOG press release, 6 March 2003.
discussion documents
- S Bewley, J Friend and G Mezey, editors. Violence Against Women. RCOG Press; 1997.