Babies of Technology: Assisted Reproduction and the Rights of the Child

255 Pages·2017·1.263 MB·English

by  Mary Ann Mason, Tom Ekman

Babies of Technology
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Mary Ann Mason
Tom Ekman
Babies of Technology
Assisted Reproduction and
the Rights of the Child
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of James
Wesley Cooper of the Class of 1865, Yale College.
Copyright © 2017 by Mary Ann Mason and Tom Mason Ekman.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in
any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written
permission from the publishers.
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Set in Whitney type by Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN 978-0-300-21587-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016952095
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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of Paper).
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Children of the Future 23
2 Sperm 59
3 Eggs 88
4 Embryos 114
5 Wombs 132
6 Families 160
7 The Rights of the Child 180
Notes 203
Glossary 227
Index 231
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Preface
As the result of assisted reproductive technology, a whole new gen-
eration of children has joined our population. Twins are everywhere,
and everyone knows someone who has benefited from the new tech-
nology. Yet the picture is far from perfect. The largely unregulated
fertility industry in the United States does very little to protect chil-
dren of assisted reproduction. The questions “Who is my mommy?”
and “Who is my daddy?” are increasingly common as more children
are born from anonymous sperm donors, frozen eggs, and surrogate
mothers. The genetic revolution has rapidly transformed the na-
ture of childbearing, allowing parents to evaluate the DNA of their
embryos and discard any with unwanted traits. Researchers in the
United Kingdom are using the procedure that accidentally led to
“three-parent babies” in the 1990s. And the new gene-editing tool
CRISPR/Cas9 makes the possibility of a new line of genetically mod-
ified human beings no longer science fiction. Will we create super-
humans?
The ethical and philosophical debate about the reproduc-
tive revolution goes on. It’s similar to climate change: we know it is
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viii PREFACE
happening, but we don’t have enough collective resolve to take the
necessary next steps. We need to examine more thoroughly how we
have protected—or failed to protect—the rights of existing children
of assisted reproduction, as well as the rights of those not yet born.
This book examines each aspect of assisted reproductive tech-
nology, from the oldest and still most widely used intervention—
artificial insemination by sperm donor—all the way to the future of
genetically modified human beings. We investigate frozen eggs, in
vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and the demographics of who is partici-
pating in the assisted reproduction industry in the United States and
internationally. We also identify the issues affecting children who
are being born as a result of these current and advancing technolo-
gies, including health problems, identity confusion, legal status, and
potentially superhuman traits and abilities.
For two decades, co-author Mary Ann Mason taught Children
and the Law as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
During those years, she watched the fertility industry grow rapidly,
without legal or ethical constraints. In part because of the abortion
wars, which carried over into the debate on the rights of embryos
as persons, there has been little national discussion or regulation of
assisted reproductive technology. The topic has been too politically
charged. States occasionally pass laws that forbid or allow surro-
gacy, or recognize contracts between couples who agree on how to
divide or destroy their embryos upon a divorce. Yet there is no co-
herent legal framework—only a hodgepodge of laws and court deci-
sions that are not protective of children.
What to do? We need a new rulebook as children and all of
humanity face a novel set of circumstances and potential chal-
lenges. We suggest a basic International Code of Rights for Children
of Assisted Reproductive Technology, which would set forth general
PREFACE ix
principles that could be applied to established and evolving tech-
nologies. We also propose creating a federal administrative agency
whose primary responsibilities would be monitoring assisted repro-
duction, instituting guidelines, and maintaining records of all proce-
dures performed across the United States.