Giving to receive? The right to donate in umbilical cord blood banking for stem cell therapies

Awareness of cord blood banking among pregnant women in semi urban area

“…Whereas in western countries, people are well aware of uses of cord blood banking and also about public cord blood banking options. 10,11 As corroborated from our study results, main reason for women having positive thought towards banking is, they thought it may be useful in future. Others thought it to be mainly useful for those who had interfamily marriage due to expected problem in the children.…”

Gender dynamics in the donation field: human tissue donation for research, therapy and feeding

“…Women seek to donate cord blood in the expectation that the state will provide a ‘match’ for their families, combining expectations of the state's responsibility and rights, altruism and personal benefit (Machin et al . ).…”

“…However, it has been suggested that the expansion of cord blood banking services and awareness of the therapeutic uses of cord blood mean that other women who are not targeted for public cord blood bank donation articulate what Machin et al . () call a ‘right to donate.’ Women's expectations about cord blood donation appeared to outstrip the infrastructure for collection by public banks. Some women, believing that they should have a right to donate to the public bank, not least because it might benefit their family at a future date, were critical of the under‐resourcing of public cord blood banks.…”

“…In this example, the ‘rights’ of the women donors were constructed in terms of ‘the potential future health needs of donors, their children and their family’ (Machin et al . ,: 301) and draw on gendered understandings of mothers’ responsibilities to act as gatekeepers for their family's health and to make ‘wise choices’ on behalf of their children (Fannin , ).…”

“…However, it has been suggested that the expansion of cord blood banking services and awareness of the therapeutic uses of cord blood mean that other women who are not targeted for public cord blood bank donation articulate what Machin et al (2012) call a 'right to donate.' Women's expectations about cord blood donation appeared to outstrip the infrastructure for collection by public banks.…”