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Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Restricted Thesis: Campus only access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Jessica Flanigan

Abstract

This project examines how pregnancy in the United States has been transformed from a biological condition into a morally charged social status shaped by medical, public health, and legal institutions. I argue that this transformation produces a paradox in which pregnancy is simultaneously overvalued as a public good and undervalued in the lived experiences of pregnant individuals—especially those with marginalized identities related to age, race, class, or substance use. Drawing on social psychology and policy history, I show how moralizing pregnancy leads to misattributions of responsibility and increased

stigma. To address this, I advance a normative argument using conceptual engineering, proposing that pregnancy should be reinterpreted through Elizabeth Barnes’ “mere difference” framework. Rather than treating pregnancy as an intrinsically “good” difference that carries moral expectations, I argue it should be understood as a morally neutral bodily variation. This shift removes the basis for blame while preserving descriptive and clinical relevance. Finally, I outline how this reconceptualization can inform practical reforms, including treating pregnancy as a form of normal species functioning and applying ordinary risk. This framework fills a gap in bioethics by extending mere difference theory to a positively moralized condition, offering a new approach to reducing inequality in maternal health.

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