- Feb 5, 2002
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The peer-reviewed paper is “Is pregnancy a disease? A normative approach” by Ann Smajdor and Joona Räsänen in BMJ’s Journal of Medical Ethics.
(Incidentally, for new readers, I always emphasize the “peer review” to show how perfectly ridiculous the concept is.)
Here’s a portion of the Abstract, with my emphasis:
Continued below.
www.wmbriggs.com
(Incidentally, for new readers, I always emphasize the “peer review” to show how perfectly ridiculous the concept is.)
Here’s a portion of the Abstract, with my emphasis:
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but the first notion that struck me after I read this was What did their parents do to these academics. However, evidence for that being impossible for me to obtain, we’ll look at the paper instead.…We argue that there are some compelling grounds for regarding pregnancy as a disease. Like a disease, pregnancy affects the health of the pregnant person, causing a range of symptoms from discomfort to death. Like a disease, pregnancy can be treated medically. Like a disease, pregnancy is caused by a pathogen, an external organism invading the host’s body. Like a disease, the risk of getting pregnant can be reduced by using prophylactic measures. We address the question of whether the ‘normality’ of pregnancy, its current necessity for human survival…We conclude that there are both normative and pragmatic reasons to consider pregnancy a disease.
Continued below.

Academics Call Pregnancy A Disease
The peer-reviewed paper is “Is pregnancy a disease? A normative approach” by Ann Smajdor and Joona Räsänen in BMJ’s Journal of Medical Ethics. (Incidentally, for new readers, I al…
