Human Dignity and Female Infertility. The Relevance of Martha Nussbaum’s Capability Approach to Theological Ethics and Ethical Engagement in the Nigerian Context

Research  Questions

What  relationship exists  between  Catholic Moral Teaching on infertility  and Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach. 

What is dignity and what happens to dignity and rights of women in the seeming face of infertility?

How does  failings in socio-cultural, economic, political, environmental, and climatic conditions affect infertility in Nigeria?

 

 Methodology

  Literature:

Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Instruction, Dignitas Personae in AAS 100 (2008) 858-887. Vatican, 2008.

Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Instruction, Donum Vitae in AAS 80 (1988) 70-102. Vatican, 1987.

Nussbaum, Martha C.  Creating Capabilities: Th E Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 2011.

———. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Hollos, Marida. “Profiles of Infertility in Southern Nigeria: Women’s Voices from Amakiri.” African Journal of Reproductive Health Vol.7, no. 2 (2003): 46–56.

Ilo, Stan Chu. “Contested Moral Issues in Contemporary African Catholicism: Theological Proposals for a Hermeneutics of Multiplicity and Inclusion.” Journal of Global Catholicism 1, no. 2 (2017): 50–73.

Larsen, Ulla. “Primary and Secondary Infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa.” International Journal of Epidemiology 29, no. 2 (2000): 285–91.