Bioethics and Applied Ethics

Posthumous Reproduction

This research project addresses a question that has become increasingly prominent in courts and public debates across Western societies: should parents be permitted to use the sperm of their deceased child for reproductive purposes?

The principal innovation of this project lies in its proposal of a new theoretical framework for addressing this issue. Existing discussions typically rely on the language of rights, which tends to generate conflicts among competing rights claims while simultaneously excluding bereaved parents from the analysis, since they possess no direct rights claim over their child's gametes.

Together with Prof. Roy Gilbar, Dr. Ram-Tiktin proposes replacing the rights-based framework with one grounded in social solidarity and relational autonomy. The project also offers a critical analysis of Israeli Attorney General guidelines and judicial decisions in Israel and Australia concerning requests by bereaved parents.

Representative Publications

Ram-Tiktin, E., Gilbar, R., Beck Fruchter, R., Ben-Ami, I., Friedler, S., & Shalom-Paz, E. (2019). “Expanding the Use of Posthumous Assisted Reproduction Technique: Should the Deceased’s Parents Be Allowed to Use His Sperm?” Clinical Ethics, 14(1): 18–25.
Ram-Tiktin, E., & Gilbar, R. (2019). “Solidarity as a Theoretical Framework for Posthumous Assisted Reproduction and the Case of Bereaved Parents.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22: 501–517.
Gilbar, R., & Ram-Tiktin, E. (2020). “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child: Solidarity in the Courts – Judicial Justification for Posthumous Use of Sperm by Bereaved Parents.” Medical Law Review, 28(2): 317–341.

Blue and White Bioethics: Israeli Perspectives

Edited with Prof. Gil Siegal, this project examines whether a distinctive Israeli bioethics has emerged despite the strong influence of European and North American traditions. The resulting volume offers a broad interpretive account of the intellectual roots of Israeli bioethics and explores its distinctive features in beginning-of-life issues, end-of-life care, and healthcare resource allocation.

Publication

Siegal, G., & Ram-Tiktin, E. (Eds.). (2015). Blue and White Bioethics: Israeli Perspectives. Mossad Bialik (Hebrew).

Parenthood Determination in IVF Embryo Mix-Up Cases

Cases in which an embryo is mistakenly transferred to the wrong patient raise difficult legal and ethical questions concerning the foundations of parenthood. In collaboration with Prof. Roy Gilbar and Dr. Sivan Tamir, this research examines how competing claims based on genetic and gestational parenthood should be evaluated.

The study analyzes four major foundations for parental claims—effort and investment, ownership, intention, and attachment—and demonstrates that none independently provides a decisive basis for resolving such disputes. To address this indeterminacy, the project systematically applies two justificatory frameworks: Rational Impartialism and Scanlonian Contractualism. The analysis demonstrates how each framework evaluates burdens, claims, and reasonable objections, and how they may yield different conclusions under varying factual circumstances.

The article proposes a structured normative framework for resolving conflicts between genetic and gestational claims and concludes by offering a preliminary model protocol for policymakers, courts, and welfare authorities.

Current Project

Ram-Tiktin, E., Gilbar, R., & Tamir, S. Parenthood Determination in IVF Embryo Mix-Up Cases. Under Review.

Uterus Transplantation and the Ethics of Innovation under Structural Risk

This research examines whether it is ethically appropriate to develop medical technologies when there is a foreseeable risk that they will be embedded within social structures that undermine women’s autonomy. The study uses uterus transplantation (UTx) as a case study: an experimental procedure designed to enable pregnancy and genetic parenthood but involving substantial risks and no life-saving benefits.

The project addresses two normative questions. First, it examines the consistency of Sunni Islamic justifications for permitting uterus transplantation on the grounds that it does not compromise lineage (nasab) because no genetic material is transferred. The analysis exposes conceptual difficulties in prevailing understandings of third-party involvement, which often focus exclusively on genetics while neglecting gestational and epigenetic dimensions.

Second, the study examines the ethical responsibility associated with developing technologies under conditions of religious, cultural, and social pressure. It introduces the concept of structural risk—situations in which social conditions make exploitation foreseeable and systematic rather than accidental. The article argues not for prohibition but for a model of ethically conditioned innovation, under which technological development is accompanied by institutional safeguards designed to protect autonomy and prevent coercion.