Following up on our post from a few days ago, Naomi Cahn (author of Test Tube Families) writes in the Baltimore Sun about the case of a 60-year-old woman who gave birth with the help of a fertility clinic.
So we are reminded yet again that doctors are getting better and better at delivering what, in years past, would have been reasonably described as miracles. And important questions are being asked as a result, such as: Is it responsible for a woman to bear children regardless of her age or the number of babies involved? Is it ethical for fertility clinics to facilitate a paying customer’s pregnancy simply because they know how?
To that mix, here’s one that’s equally controversial: Is it time for federal and state governments to consider legal rules and boundaries for the fertility industry? A new research-based report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, “Old Lessons for a New World,” suggests that the answer may finally be “yes.”
The report points out that adoption and assisted reproductive technology have much in common as “nontraditional” means of forming families, and that adoption’s far-longer history of research, experience and evidence-informed policies therefore could help to improve practices in the world of assisted reproduction.
