ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the major concepts that relational feminist theory would raise with respect to the issue of maintaining a brain-dead pregnant woman on life-support. It analyzes the metaphor of field which relational feminists adopt from contemporary theories in science and theology to capture the social component of autonomy and to explain how living creatures in the world co-exist. The chapter also analyzes the boundary from two perspectives: the boundary between the dead pregnant patient and the fetus, and the boundary between the dead pregnant patient and the external world. It argues that the human body has a social role, and that due to this role, protection of the dead body is a societal value to be implemented in the same manner that applies to living persons. The chapter describes the notion of privacy and the concept of property, and discusses the dichotomy between the private-public domains.
