Self-trust and reproductive autonomy /

McLeod, a philosopher, describes her theory of self-trust, grounding it in conceptual analysis of women's reproductive health care experiences. Though not easy reading, the comparison of her theory to related ones from a feminist, bioethical, and moral philosophy perspective and the application through cases involving miscarriage, prenatal genetic screening, and infertility involve an interesting perspective about women's autonomy. McLeod argues that self-trust is essential to autonomous decision making and action and that the lack of self-trust makes women vulnerable in reproductive health care experiences. She concludes with suggestions for health care providers to support women's self-trust in reproductive health care. Although the application of these concepts is demonstrated through reproductive health care situations, one could argue that they might be applied to other situations in which women find themselves oppressed and self-distrusting as a result of previous experiences or current social situations. Graduate students through professionals. N. I. Whitman Lynchburg College