The language of a truly balanced global bioethics respects all human persons and guards the value of the individual and their role in their community. . . . We respect human persons, because we are made in the image of God. -Paige Comstock Cunningham, JD, CBHD Executive Director1
The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity held its 19th annual summer conference, Reclaiming Dignity in a Culture of Commodification, July 12-14th, on the Deerfield campus of Trinity International University. For the past several years the staff of CBHD has been building our global women’s health initiative. This initiative seamlessly brings together the ethos, vision, and mission of the Center by addressing human dignity and promoting rigorous research and reflection in an important area of bioethics. There has been a notable void of Christian reflection as it relates to bioethics and global women’s health. We believe we are positioned to make a unique contribution to this conversation that will positively impact the lives of girls, women, and communities. This year’s conference developed into a pivotal event, forwarding our global women’s health initiative and work in developing HER Dignity Network to broaden that engagement.
The conference emphasized the theological foundation of true dignity, specifically focusing on women and girls and the bioethical issues they face globally. Women and girls in the developing world are often overlooked in broader conversations of health and well-being. The hope of the Center’s staff for this conference was to inspire broader engagement with deep-seated issues related to the treatment of women and girls and their equal consideration in our global community.
Michael Sleasman, PhD, CBHD’s Managing Director & Research Scholar, opened by eloquently framing the discussion for the weekend, acknowledging that there has been a lack of attention given to this area within Christian bioethics. He was followed by a distinguished program of plenary speakers: Paige Cunningham, JD; Pia de Solenni, SThD; Monique Chireau, MD, MPH; Charmaine Yoest, PhD; and C. Ben Mitchell, PhD.
What are we actually referring to when we talk about “Reclaiming Dignity in a Culture of Commodification”? What is “commodification”? And why is it important for bioethics?
A simple definition of commodification is that it is to turn something into a commodity, something to be bought and sold. However, commodification encompasses much more, going beyond economic activity to distort the lens through which even other people are viewed. In her opening plenary address, Cunningham employed Scott Altman’s work, suggesting:
The term ‘commodification’ has many meanings; it can refer to actions that: (1) violate a duty of respect for persons by treating the person as a thing that can be sold; (2) alter a person’s moral status so that the person becomes a thing without a will; (3) alter the sensibilities of people directly involved in market transactions by causing them to regard each other as objects with prices rather than as persons; and (4) alter the sensibilities of people who learn about or live in a society that permits the sale of persons but who do not participate in such transactions themselves.2
Commodification is the direction our culture has moved, whether consciously or unconsciously, and the church is not exempt. Given this definition, we are all susceptible. So is it inevitable that bioethics will baptize this toxic mindset? Is it impossible for Christian bioethics to resist the temptation? Or is there a better way forward?
Through stories and staggering statistics, Cunningham identified ways in which women and girls are being commodified around the world, emphasizing that “compassionate caring and acting justly are essential aspects of Christian bioethics.” The challenges facing women and girls are not solely ‘women’s issues,’ they are community concerns. As she reminded us, “practices that undermine human dignity matter to all of us.”3 We are not strictly autonomous beings; our actions, or at times inactions, have ramifications beyond us and our own families. Dr. Yoest affirmed that radical autonomy and isolated individualism leads to a decline of dignity.
These are a few of several unifying themes throughout the plenary addresses. The speakers also emphasized that human dignity ultimately is grounded in being created in the image of God. Dr. de Solenni expanded upon this theme in depth during her address, stating, “Men and women may have their differences, but they have a fundamental sameness and equality insofar as they are made in the image and likeness of God. No other religion outside the Judeo-Christian tradition is so audacious.”
During her plenary address, Dr. Chireau further painted the landscape of women’s health issues around the world using the data of several key studies. She asserted that
Restoration and reclamation of the dignity, and therefore health, of women, family, community and society will only occur when humans in general, and women specifically, are considered in their totality, able to make free moral choices in accord with God’s design and will, and are equal partners in building a just and virtuous society. . . . Our commitment to restoring and reclaiming dignity . . . requires not only that we love our neighbor, but that we don’t love the things God hates.4
Dr. Mitchell gave the concluding plenary, unpacking philosophical viewpoints about “who owns our body?” and arguing that commodification is incompatible with a Christian worldview.
At the wrap-up of the conference a sense of hope emerged. In her opening plenary, Cunningham pointed point towards how we may move past practices and attitudes of commodification, borrowing from Margaret A. Farley’s idea of “compassionate respect.” She stated “Compassionate respect is a disposition, an attitude; it is also action, encompassing both virtue and caring deeds.” 5 She went on to quote Farley, saying
Compassionate respect’s ‘requirements will include whatever will actually allow it to lead to the assistance of the ones who need care’ and it must take into account the actual reality of the person for whom we are caring. Finally, it includes the reality of the one who cares—their abilities, limitations, and their relationship with the person who is cared for.6
Compassionate respect for human persons, regardless of gender, is fundamental to our human dignity and common humanity, and it is fundamental to a more noble way forward for a life-affirming approach to global bioethics issues.
I would like to personally invite you to attend our 2013 summer conference, Health & Human Flourishing, July 18-20th. We are embarking on a significant year for CBHD. Please join us as we celebrate our 20th anniversary as a bioethics research center. This conference promises to be as thought provoking as in years past as we hear from our confirmed plenary speakers: Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Allen Verhey, PhD, Bart Cusveller, PhD, and William B. Hurlbut, MD. Hope to see you there!
1 Paige Cunningham, “Reclaiming Her Dignity: From Commodification to Community” (plenary, CBHD, Deerfield, IL, July 12, 2012).
2 Scott Altman, “(Com)modifying Experience.” Southern California Law Review 293 (1991): 295-296.
3 Cunningham, “Reclaiming Her Dignity.”
4 Monique Chireau, “Women’s Health and the Health of the Family, Community, and Society: Cause or Effect?” (plenary, CBHD, Deerfield, IL, July 13, 2012).
5 Cunningham, “Reclaiming Her Dignity.”
6 Cunningham, “Reclaiming Her Dignity,” quoting Margaret Farley, Compassionate Respect: A Feminist Approach to Medical Ethics and Other Questions (Mawah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2002), 33.
