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Ellen Painter Dollar

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Select a Month September 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

April 2015

April 22, 2015

“Why don’t you just adopt?” is the wrong question to ask infertile couples. Here’s why.

Besides making people feel defensive for experiencing the fundamentally human urge to conceive and bear...

March 2015

March 26, 2015

Natural Family Planning Isn’t the Only Ethical Option for Christians: Why I Chose an IUD

As I cradled my third newborn in his first hours of life, I was seized...

December 2014

December 29, 2014

On Assisted Suicide and Chronic Pain, Sex and Prayer, DNA and Ice Buckets: Top 10 Posts of 2014

The 10 most-read blog posts of 2014—a list that provides a good snapshot of topics...

November 2014

November 21, 2014

On Three-Parent IVF and the Act of Begetting

Every few months, a story pops up about a new frontier in reproductive medical technologies:...

September 2014

September 29, 2014

Can You Regret Having a Child Who Inherits Your Genetic Baggage?

But while I sometimes wish I could have spared my daughter her genetic fate, I’m...

July 2014

July 10, 2014

We’re Asking the Wrong Questions About Three-Parent Embryos

I’m not necessarily opposed to three-parent embryos. But I am opposed to sanctioning this technology,...

May 2014

May 06, 2014

Resemblances

“Look at those fingers! And her toes! So long and skinny…just like yours, Ellen.” I...

February 2014

February 20, 2014

Separate Sex from Procreation….& End Up in Dystopia?

We progressive Christians like to roll our eyes at the Roman Catholics for their official...

February 17, 2014

Why Do Parents Choose to Screen for Disabilities?

Imagine you are standing at an intersection with your child, waiting for a walk light...

January 2014

January 23, 2014

What We Can and Can’t Know About Our Babies Before They are Born

In using genetic screening to ensure that our baby would not inherit my painful bone...

November 2013

November 04, 2013

My Story, and My Take on Narrative Ethics, in a Nutshell

I have a cover article in the current issue of the Christian Century that summarizes the...

July 2013

July 17, 2013

College Hookup Sex is Built on a Troubling Ethic of Achievement at Any Cost

After reading Kate Taylor’s New York Times article on the culture of casual hookup sex...

July 08, 2013

Resurrection Year: Learning to Live, and Thrive, with Life as It Is Given

Our Western cultural attitudes are not well-equipped for failure. We are a culture of optimists...

June 2013

June 18, 2013

Have One Child or Many, Just Don’t Plan on Getting What You Expect

Whether you choose to have one child or many, the children you end up with,...

May 2013

May 28, 2013

How Poverty Affects Vaccination Rates

Last fall I pointed blog readers to my colleague Rachel Stone's post on vaccination as...

May 07, 2013

Progressive Christians Do Care About Abortion: A Response to Rachel Held Evans

Blogger/author Rachel Held Evans wrote an excellent post last week titled Why Progressive Christians Should...

May 02, 2013

Parents-to-Be Have More Choices Than Ever, But We Can’t Choose Our Way Out of Pain

Jennifer Gilmore’s story is enough to scare anyone away from open adoption. (It also provides...

March 2013

March 12, 2013

Taboo Stories About Disability: What We’re Not Allowed to Say

Last week's New York Times featured a story about Joshua Miele, who at the age...

March 11, 2013

When Conflicting Stories Are Both True: Illness, Identity, and the Tales We Tell of Living with Disability

In his vast and gripping book, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search...

March 07, 2013

Bless Those Who Curse You (& Don’t Call Them Eugenicists, Moral Monsters, or Murderers)

A friend recently sent me an article written by an Australian man who has the...

March 06, 2013

How the Story of a Surrogate, Expectant Parents, and a Baby Reveals the Pitfalls of Repro Tech

Fundamentally, it is simply a sad story, one that took place just a few miles...

March 04, 2013

The Dangers of “Solutionism” Applied to Our Always Less-than-Perfect Children

In the New York Times Sunday Review yesterday, Evgeny Morosov defines "solutionism" as "an intellectual...

February 2013

February 06, 2013

Abortion Isn’t the Only Reproductive Issue for Christians to Care About

I have a post on Think Christian about how the Christian preoccupation with abortion has...

January 2013

January 24, 2013

Things to Ponder Before Undergoing Prenatal Testing

My friend, colleague, and fellow Patheos blogger Amy Julia Becker has a new e-book titled...

January 18, 2013

December 2012

December 14, 2012

A Whole New Way to Bring Home Baby

As the one-year anniversary of my book publication approaches in January, I’m devoting Fridays from...

December 07, 2012

“We Have to Consider the Quality of Our Children”: IVF, a Nobel Prize, and Cultural Confusion Around Reproductive Ethics

As the one-year anniversary of my book publication approaches in January, I’m devoting Fridays from...

November 2012

November 30, 2012

The Liminal Nature of Human Embryos, and How That Nature Complicates Reproductive Decisions

As the one-year anniversary of my book publication approaches in January, I’m devoting Fridays from...

November 23, 2012

I Don’t Want to Be an Inspiration, I Just Want to Be Human

As the one-year anniversary of my book publication approaches in January, I’m devoting Fridays from...

November 16, 2012

Which Story Do You Live By?

As the one-year anniversary of my book publication approaches in January, I'm devoting Fridays from...