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Human Reproduction

Bioethics Forum Essay

Polygenic Embryo Screening: Ethical and Legal Considerations

Last month, Bloomberg reported on what seems to be the first child born following a new kind of genome-wide screening. Four embryos were screened, and the embryo selected for implantation was the one given the best genetic odds of avoiding heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and schizophrenia in adulthood. The news has been met with some concerns about the degree of control we may now have over future generations.
Read Polygenic Embryo Screening: Ethical and Legal Considerations
Bioethics Forum Essay

The Great Leap Backward

The government and many residents of the state of Texas like to brag about their love of personal freedom and individual choice. That is why it is so strange and morally repugnant that the state has turned for guidance on how to manage reproductive decisions to the Chinese Communist Party of the Mao Zedong era.
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Bioethics Forum Essay

Human Embryo Research Beyond 14 Days? International Perspectives

In late May, an international organization eliminated a 40-year prohibition against human embryo research beyond 14 days. The legal and scientific consequences will vary around the world.
Read Human Embryo Research Beyond 14 Days? International Perspectives
Bioethics Forum Essay
ultrasound photos

With Legal Challenges to Abortion, Whither Prenatal Diagnosis?

Changes in abortion law threaten to undermine a major benefit of prenatal diagnosis, namely the ability of pregnant women to choose whether or not to continue their pregnancies upon learning of a serious fetal condition.
Read With Legal Challenges to Abortion, Whither Prenatal Diagnosis?
Bioethics Forum Essay
frozen embryos

Surprising Surge of Egg Freezing during the Pandemic Raises Ethical Questions

Contrary to the expectations of many fertility clinics, demand for egg freezing has increased sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting longstanding ethical concerns about egg freezing clinics.
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Bioethics Forum Essay

What’s Wrong with Virginity Testing?

When the rapper T. I. disclosed on a podcast that he takes his 18-year-old daughter to a yearly gynecological examination to ensure that her hymen is still intact, the reaction of most people was condemnation. His obsession with her virginity is creepy, his subjecting her to an invasive procedure that has no medical value is controlling, and his willingness to talk about it publicly displays contempt for her rights to privacy and dignity. Some think that the law should prohibit physicians from performing or supervising virginity examinations. But the law is not the best means for dealing with the problem, and the problem is not simply virginity testing.
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Bioethics Forum Essay

What’s Wrong with a Fertility Doctor Using His Own Sperm?

It was unethical for a fertility doctor to use his own sperm to inseminate patients without their consent. But what are the legal harms to the women? To their children?
Read What’s Wrong with a Fertility Doctor Using His Own Sperm?
Bioethics Forum Essay

Moratorium on Human Genome Editing: Time to Get It Right

Last month, the journal Nature published a call for a global moratorium on heritable human genome editing. Despite criticism, notably from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, the moratorium is just what's needed now.
Read Moratorium on Human Genome Editing: Time to Get It Right
Bioethics Forum Essay
Chinese scientist speaking at international meeting

Chinese Bioethicists Respond to the Case of He Jiankui

A preliminary investigation by Guangdong Province in China of He Jiankui, the scientist who created the world’s first gene-edited babies, found that “He had intentionally dodged supervision, raised funds and...
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Bioethics Forum Essay
petridish against a glowing background

He Jiankui: A Sorry Tale of High-Stakes Science

In response to news of the world’s first babies born in China from gene-edited embryos, Sam Sternberg, a CRISPR/Cas9 researcher at Columbia University, spoke for many when he said “I’ve...
Read He Jiankui: A Sorry Tale of High-Stakes Science
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