Choice as a risk to women's health

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Abstract
“Choice” has long been a principal demand of the women's health movement. This paper explores some ways in which current trends in biomedicine and health care may be transforming the concept of choice, and the choices provided to women, into risks to our well-being. The trends examined include the continuing neglect of structural constraints on women's abilities to choose; the framing of choice solely as an expression of individualism; and a vision of health care choices for women as ways to stimulate the economy. These trends present special risks for women because they co-opt our demands for gender-based health policies to support the commercialisation of health and health care. To counter these trends' women will have to participate actively in the processes that determine what options are developed and made available to us, ensuring that the contexts of women's lives and our understandings of risks are addressed. Only then might choice be authentic, and not a risk for health.

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