Conference Information

The conference will be held on the main campus of the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. Cape Town, the parliamentary capital of South Africa, is an exquisitely beautiful city with much to offer visitors. Located at the southern tip of Africa and nestled beneath the slopes of Table Mountain on the beautiful Cape Peninsula, it is enjoyed for its beaches, drives, and scenic walks. The famous Cape wine farms are in easy driving distance. Other places of interest to visit include Parliament, Cape Point, the top of Table Mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela and others were imprisoned), the Castle of the Dutch East India Company, various museums and Cape Dutch homesteads. There is a rich restaurant and night life.

The conference program will include approximately two dozen papers. Hugh Lafollette, Jeff McMahan, and Bonnie Steinbock will deliver keynote addresses. We’re quite excited about the conference. The papers reflect many central themes from current scholarship on issues relevant to bearing and rearing children. There should be plenty of stimulating conversation both in the Q&A and informally at teas. Many of the scholars on the program are political theorists or social philosophers, though there is still much diversity in represented disciplines and national origins.

If traveling from abroad, you might now start looking into arranging for flights. The US State Department reports “passports of all travelers to South Africa must contain at least two blank (unstamped) visa pages each time entry is sought; these pages are in addition to the endorsement/amendment pages at the back of the passport. Otherwise, the traveler, even when in possession of a valid South African visa, may be refused entry into South Africa, fined, and returned to their point of origin at the traveler’s expense.”

Our recent research suggests that citizens of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, or the United States do not need visas for visits to South Africa shorter than 90 days. Holders of Lesotho passports may visit South Africa for up to 30 days without a visa.

You should check to be sure your passport is up to date and to confirm that no visa is needed in your own case. Citizens of the USA without current passports should begin immediately securing a passport by pursuing all expediting options available. (The process is notoriously sluggish.)

Though the conference schedule is not yet finalized, the conference will begin in the evening of Monday 26 May and conclude in the evening of Wednesday 28 May. Conference organizers in Cape Town will soon negotiate special rates for area accommodations.

Registration Information

Early registration is payable by 17 March(postmarked). We expect the registration fee to cover one conference dinner (likely at the conclusion of the conference), two lunches, morning and afternoon teas on 27 and 28 May, conference materials, and where applicable, transport between conference accommodation and the conference venue. Details on registration payment are included below.

Payment Details for Registrants (Except those from Africa)

We cannot process any registration fees paid by cash or credit cards.

All registration fees must be paid by check in US dollars. The early registration fee (received by 17 March 2008): US$ 140. The late registration fee (received by 30 April 2008): US$ 165. All payments must be made in US dollars. Make check or international money order payable to: Georgia State University

Include a letter clearly identifying the registrant’s name, email address, and university affiliation.

Mail the fee and letter to:
Claire Murata Kooy
Cape Town Conference 2008
Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics
Box 4089
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30302-4089
USA

You will receive an email confirming your registration.

Payment Details for Registrants from African Universities

Registrants from African universities may make registration payment directly to the University of Cape Town. (Registrants from other countries should pay the registration fee to Georgia State University).

Early registration fee (payable by 17 March 2008): ZAR 550
Late registration fee (payable by 30 April 2008): ZAR 700

Payments to the University of Cape Town should be made to the following account:

Account Holder: University of Cape Town
Name of Bank: Standard Bank of S.A. LTD
Address: Riverside Centre
Belmon Road
Rondebosch
7700
South Africa
Bank Phone: +27 21 689 8353 FAX: +27 21 686 8025
Branch: Rondebosch
Bank Account Number: 071 503 854
Branch Code Number: 02 50 09 11
Bank Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ

Please fax official confirmation of payment to: (27 21) 650 5062 Include the following details:
a) Your title, first and last name.
b) Your department and university.
c) Your email (or other) address.

Information for Presenters of Papers

You should plan on a presentation of twenty minutes, after which there would be approximately twenty-five minutes for questions and discussion. This acceptance is conditional on our timely receipt of a completed paper that is consistent with your previous abstract. Your actual written paper may be longer than what you can present in twenty minutes. We hope to post the completed papers to the conference website before the conference.

By 15 March, we should to receive from you (1) your completed paper, (2) an updated abstract for the printed conference Program, and (3) your updated contact information. Please send all such materials to Claire Murata Kooy at: kkooy(at)gsu(dot)edu.

Tentative List of Accepted Papers for The Ethics of Bearing and Rearing Children, Cape Town, South Africa, May 2008

This list is subject to change. Final conference programme and schedule will be announced in early May.

• Jaime Ahlberg, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA: “An Argument Against Cloning”
• Kyle Anstey, Joint Centre for Bioethics, The University of Toronto Canada and ISIS Regional Fertility Centre, Mississauga Canada: “A critique of arguments supporting disability avoidance.”
• Adrienne Asch, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, New York, USA: “Licensing Parents: Is the Infertility Clinic Society's Conscience or Society's Police?”
• Andrew I. Cohen, Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA: “Children’s Rights to Parental Support and Compensation for Historic Injustices.”
• Heather Draper, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK: “Severing Parental Responsibility.”
• Nir Eyal, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK: "What Does Generic Selection Express?"
• Giuliana Fuscaldo, Human Rights and Bioethics Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: “Does Genetic Parenthood Generate Parental Rights?”
• Sarah Hannan,Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom, and Richard Vernon, Department of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada: “Parental Rights: A Role-based Approach.”
• Dien Ho, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Health Care Ethics, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA, USA: “How Unilateral Abortion Rights Helps Identify the Limit of Procreative Autonomy.”
• Donald C. Hubin, Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA: “Procreators’ Duties.”
• Crispinous Iteyo, Department of Philosophy, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho: “Truth-telling and Technologically Reproduced Children.”
• Maureen Kelley, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA, “Freedom as Development: Rethinking the Human Rights Approach to Children.”
• Mianna Lotz, Department of Philosophy, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Macquarie University, Australia: “Rethinking the moral significance of why we have children.”
• Joseph Millum, Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA: “Parental Work and Parental Rights.”
• Niels Nijsingh, Ethics Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands: “Parental Autonomy and Privacy.”
• Christine Overall, Women's Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University and Department of Philosophy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada: “Not ‘Better Never to Have Been.’”
• Norvin Richards, Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA: “Lives No One Should Have To Live.”
• Tom Sorell, Centre for the Study of Global Ethics, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK: Expert knowledge and the authority of parental decisions.”
• Liezl Van Zyl, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Waikato New Zealand: “A Case for Commercial Surrogate Motherhood.”
• Adrian Walsh, Philosophy, School of Humanities, University of New England, and Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Australia: “The Non-Identity Problem, Future People and Modal Harm.”
• Daniel Weinstock, Department of Philosophy, University of Montreal, Montréal, Canada: “The Ethics of Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening.”