overview

• Sara Gavrell Ortiz, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. Her work bridges the areas of bio/ethical theory and feminism(s), and her research interests include reproductive ethics broadly construed, and philosophy of birthing in particular, (non-human) animal ethics, and bio/“enhancements”. Gavrell Ortiz is especially interested in how the medicalization of life processes and a narrow conception of bio/technology can been detrimental for human experience (for example, in birthing) and limits imagining other interesting and life-affirming possibilities. She has created courses on philosophy of birth, feminist reproductive ethics, feminist ethics, and animal ethics; and regularly teaches bioethics and medical ethics. She has given talks on birthing ethics in different organizations in Puerto Rico and internationally. Her philosophical passions involve thinking about the superpowers we currently have, such as the ability to create life by gestating and birthing, and the superpowers we might have through biotechnology, such as the ability to breathe underwater. Dr. Gavrell Ortiz is also a mother (home-birther), a world traveler, a writer, and a seeker of adventures.