Abstract:
While rapidly developing Assisted Reproductive Technology (‘ART’) such as in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, artificial insemination, IUI, fertility medication, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and cryopreservation, offer new pathways to parenthood, they have challenged our collective notions about the traditional view of family as something ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ and as a ‘self-contained unit’. New technologies allow for far-reaching reproductive decision-making that was not possible even a generation ago. Potential parents can now select the sex, race, or other characteristics of an embryo to be implanted. Parents can also choose to cryopreserve their embryos to allow for implantation in the future, or choose to terminate or reduce a pregnancy because of birth defects or multiples. With the opportunities presented by reproductive autonomy and choice come legal and ethical chaos of sorts, and a division that pits consent against state and public interest …
Zalesne, Deborah, The Intersection of Contract Law, Reproductive Technology, and the Market: Families in the Age of ART (January 9, 2017), 51 University of Richmond Law Review 419 (2017).
First posted 2017-03-13 06:17:32
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