Contragestive Time Launch
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Central
Launch: ‘Contragestive Time: Pregnant Uncertainties in Fertility Control.’
Recently awarded a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award (£3.85 milion), we are delighted to invite you to the launch of this new 5-year multi-stranded research project. Contragestive Time is a collaboration between Birkbeck, the University of Bristol, University of Sussex, Manchester Metropolitan University, King’s College London, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), and SH:24.
Contragestive Time seeks to expand our understandings of reproductive timing and lay the groundwork for a new approach for those looking to control their fertility. Despite decades of development, contraception has not fulfilled its promise – many struggle to find methods that are accessible, acceptable and effective, and increasingly those wishing to control their fertility in the UK are turning away from hormonal options. Innovation is urgently needed.
‘Contragestives’ are alternative forms of fertility control that, unlike contraceptives, act in the invisible interval between possible conception and the earliest point at which abortion becomes possible. New contragestive pills are being developed that can be taken weekly, monthly, or when needed. They sustain a state of non-pregnancy without it ever being known whether pregnancy occurred. In doing so, contragestives blur the traditional boundaries between contraception and abortion; this ambiguity is both their promise and their risk.
Contragestive Time will carefully and collaboratively explore how to intervene in this invisible time. Moving beyond entrenched debates about when ‘life’ begins and the ethics of contraception and abortion, the project will examine the historical, cultural, philosophical, and temporal concepts that sustain the distinctions between contraception and abortion, and the ‘clock time’ through which reproduction is measured. By creating new understandings of reproductive time, it will test legal frameworks, generate new clinical knowledge, and consider implications for policy, rights, and care. Ultimately, Contragestive Time aims to prepare the philosophical, social, legal, medical, and political ground for a contragestive future.
Please join us to learn more about the project, engage with its early directions, and contribute your own insights to shape a new understanding of reproductive time. Your participation will help us open conversations across disciplines, communities, and forms of expertise as we collectively imagine the possibilities and challenges ahead for this emerging field.
The afternoon will be opened by Professor Sally Wheeler, OBE, Vice-Chancellor of Birkbeck.
The research team will present two panel discussions:
Panel 1- Contragestives: the next revolution in fertility control
Paula Baraitser, Elena Caruso, Patricia Lohr, Rhiana Mills, Clare Murphy, Sally Sheldon
Panel 2 – Time, Reproduction, and Reproductive Cultures
Lisa Baraitser, Paula Baraitser, Holly Isard, Sarah Milton, Stella Sandford, Maya Unnithan
Closing remarks: Felicity Callard
The event will be followed by a wine reception (5.30-6.00pm).
Contact name: Lisa Baraitser
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