This open access book adopts two approaches developed in political philosophy, "ideal" and "non-ideal" theory, to develop a new approach to bioethics. It argues that both ideal theory and non-ideal theory may be preferable depending on the situation. On this basis, it proposes a new decision-making approach using five criteria to analyze different situations and to decide which one to choose. This approach is introduced theoretically and considered practically using current examples like reproductive rights, the Covid pandemic, or the feminist analysis practice of vulnerability and relational autonomy. This book is of interest to researchers, students, and practitioners in the fields of bioethics, medical ethics, public health, and gender studies. 

Florencia Luna, PhD directs the Program of Bioethics in FLACSO (Latin American School of Social Sciences) in Argentina. She is a researcher (Superior Researcher) at CONICET (National Scientific and Technological Research Council). She is the PI of a Fogarty (FIC-US) Training Grant on research ethics (2016-2026).  She has been the President of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) (2003-2005). She has won the Guggenheim Foundation Fellow (2006) and has been awarded the Konex Prize: Honor Diploma in Ethics in 2006. She has been appointed to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of Tropical Disease Research (TDR) at WHO (2011-2016). She was on the Steering Committee of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) for the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects (2002). She is the author of several books, including Bioethics and Vulnerability: A Latin American View,  and she has published articles in national and international journals as well as in edited volumes.