The latest chapter in the embryo wars is in California, where a couple is engaged in a bitter custody dispute over the woman’s children, currently in the form of unimplanted frozen embryos. Dr. Mimi Lee and Steven Findley underwent in vitro fertilization when Dr. Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer,... View Article
In fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryos created in a Petri dish are implanted into a woman’s uterus after 3-5 days of incubation. Until recently, it was assumed that such embryos have a normal development if they successfully implant. A disturbing recent report reveals a higher risk... View Article
In our ongoing academic debates over reproductive technologies, it is perhaps all too easy to forget the real issue: we are talking about how we treat human persons, created in God’s image, who have incalculable worth. Sometimes it is good to step back and put a face on the special... View Article
Recent developments in genetic testing are revolutionizing the ability to test for a variety of genetic disorders in unborn babies. Before now, this required a difficult, painful, and potentially hazardous procedure called amniocentesis, ususally reserved for expectant mothers over the age of 35. Amniocentesis itself carries a 0.5% miscarriage rate,... View Article
As a follow-up to Aaron’s blog last week about reproductive tech, I came across an article in the LA Times. The story raises profoundly disturbing questions about how society views reproduction and having babies, and crosses the line into the chilling realm of eugenics. The news article starts out with... View Article
Our guest blogger is Aaron Costerisan, this year’s Center for Bioethics Fellow: In an article entitled ‘Reproduction Revolution: Sex for Fun, IVF for Children,’ Jo Whelan marvels at our change in attitude toward reproduction since Louise Brown became the first “test-tube†baby in 1978: “Who would have predicted how common... View Article
Debra Spar, an economics professor at Harvard, has written a nice piece that shows just how pervasive the desire to have children can be, and how easily economic manipulation can take advantage of it. She writes: To those who suffer from it, however, infertility is a wretched curse — a... View Article