By Hao Wang. Theresa Xu, ‘the first Chinese single woman to sue for her right to freeze eggs,’ lost her lawsuit last year. In 2020, Xu, then 30, sought to freeze eggs in a hospital in Beijing. Xu was not ready to be a mother then, but thought she might want to be one in the future. Therefore, she […]
Category: Assisted reproductive technology
Extra-corporeal gestation, or why things still stink
By Giulia Cavaliere. It is once again November and I am once again—three years since writing this piece—thinking about extra-corporeal gestation, the futuristic prospect of supporting foetuses in an artificial uterine environment. Considering that it cannot be the approaching winter months that sparked a wave of fresh thoughts on this technological possibility, what is? A […]
Fetal alcohol syndrome and abortion
By Simon Cushing In several publications, the philosopher Perry Hendricks has pushed an argument that he calls “the impairment argument,” intended to demonstrate that our horror at causing impairments such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to our children in utero should lead us to regard abortion with at least equal horror, as surely death is […]
Egg freezing in the UK: Recent developments in the broader context of reproductive ageing
By Giulia Cavaliere and James Rupert Fletcher. The UK government has just amended the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and extended the limit for storing gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos from 10 to 55 years. Previously, only people with a medical reason, such as infertility caused by cancer treatment, could store their gametes […]
The new UK storage limit for gametes and embryos: are we ready?
By Ilaria Bertini On 1 July 2022 the UK Government announced a change in the law on frozen storage of gametes and embryos, with the full support of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). According to the Health and Care Act 2022, fertility patients will now be able to store both embryos and gametes […]
Neonatology’s brave new world
By Phillip Wozniak, Ashley Fernandes Could a live baby outside its mother’s womb remain “unborn?” On its face, it seems like an absurd question, but scientific advancement in the field of neonatology has made answering this question a priority. In 2017, Dr. Emily Partridge and her colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia published the […]
Eugenics and reproductive carrier screening: why would you go there?
By Lisa Dive & Ainsley J Newson. It seems that one of the best ways a bioethics academic can attract an avalanche of very strong opinions is to publish a paper with the word “eugenics” in the title. Why then would we do so? In short, because we consider it important to pay attention to […]
Why ‘gestaticide’ is morally equivalent to infanticide
By Daniel Rodger, Nicholas Colgrove, Bruce P. Blackshaw Artificial womb technology may one day permit a fetus to be surgically removed from its mother’s body and placed into an artificial environment, mimicking life in utero. Following Elizabeth Chloe Romanis, let’s call the subjects living inside artificial wombs ‘gestatelings.’ An important question that arises is how […]
Expanding insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization with pre-implantation genetic testing
By Madison K. Kilbride When prospective parents learn that they’re at risk of passing a genetic condition to their future children, they’re often very concerned. Currently, there are two ways to ensure that one’s biological children do not inherit a hereditary condition. The first is to conceive naturally, use prenatal diagnosis to test the fetus […]
The public provision of ARTs in England: old arguments, new inequalities
By Laura O’Donovan and Sacha Waxman Criticism of the disparities in the public provision of fertility treatment in England is nothing new. The so-called ‘IVF postcode lottery’ emerged due to widespread divergence in local commissioning policies restricting access to treatment services. Unfairness in that process results not only from the different amounts of treatment available in […]