[368] WOMEN’S BODIES, WOMEN’S LIVES, WHOSE RESEARCH PROGRAM?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

WOMEN’S BODIES, WOMEN’S LIVES, WHOSE RESEARCH PROGRAM?
MTSU Women’s Studies Research Series Lecture Examines Pregnancy and Research

(MURFREESBORO) – Should the law put limits on the extent to which pregnant women can participate in scientific research? In the next Women’s Studies Research Series Lecture at MTSU, Tara Prairie, research compliance officer, will speak about “Pregnancy and Research: A Critique of Subpart B” at 3 p.m., Thursday, March 19, in the SunTrust Room (BAS127) of the Business and Aerospace Building.
Prairie says under a federal regulation written in 1975 “pregnant women cannot participate in any research (including behavioral/social) unless there is a direct benefit to the pregnancy or the fetus. This presentation looks at historical instances that may have influenced such a stringent policy, but also considers other legal and ethical issues.”
The regulation (U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46, Subpart B) “was written in 1975, which is 16 years before the main body of the federal regulation was created in 1991, and has not been revised since,” says Prairie.
“The MTSU Women's Studies Research Series has something for everyone interested in women's experience,” says Dr. Jane Marcellus, professor of mass communication. “By bringing together scholars from across campus, we touch on a wide variety of feminist viewpoints in an informal monthly gathering.”
All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information on the Women’s Studies Research Series, contact Marcellus at 615-898-5282 or jmarcell@mtsu.edu.


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