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Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Basic Art Procedures, Variations On The Procedures, Medical Risks Of Arts, Ethical And Religious Perspectives On ArtsConclusion

The term assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) refers to a variety of procedures that enable people to reproduce without engaging in genital intercourse. Most people who use ARTs do so because they are infertile and other methods of treating their infertility have proven unsuccessful. Some people without fertility problems also use ARTs to minimize the risk of transmitting certain genetic disorders or to reproduce without a partner of the opposite sex.

ARTs have helped numerous individuals overcome physiological or social barriers to reproduction that, in previous generations, would have made it impossible for them to have children. At the same time, they have generated significant ethical, religious, and legal issues about which no societal consensus yet exists. As developments in ARTs continue to proceed, the challenge will be to promote the beneficial use of technology while minimizing the social harms.


See also: BIRTH CONTROL: CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS; BIRTH CONTROL: SOCIOCULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ASPECTS; FAMILY PLANNING; FERTILITY; SEXUALITY EDUCATION; SEXUALITY IN ADULTHOOD; SURROGACY


Bibliography

Andrews, L. B. (1999). The Clone Age: Adventures in the New World of Assisted Reproductive Technology. New York: Henry Holt.

Asch, A. (1989). "Reproductive Technology and Disability." In Reproductive Laws for the 1990s, ed. S. Cohen and N. Taub. Clifton, NJ: Humana Press.

Cohen, C. B., ed. (1996). New Ways of Making Babies: The Case of Egg Donation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Coleman, C. H. (1999). "Procreative Liberty and Contemporaneous Choice: An Inalienable Rights Approach to Frozen Embryo Disputes." Minnesota Law Review 84:55–127.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (1987). "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation." Origins 16:697–711.

Dolgin, J. L. (1997). Defining the Family: Law, Technology, and Reproduction in an Uneasy Age. New York: New York University Press.

Garrison, M. (2000). "Law Making for Baby Making: An Interpretive Approach to the Determination of Legal Parentage." Harvard Law Review 113:835–923.

Lauritzen, P. (1993). Pursuing Parenthood: Ethical Issues in Assisted Reproduction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

McGee, G. (2000). The Perfect Baby: Parenthood in the New World of Cloning and Genetics. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

Mehlman, M. J. (2000). "The Law of Above Averages: Leveling the New Genetic Enhancement Playing Field." Iowa Law Review 85:517–593.

Murphy, J. S. (1999). "Should Lesbians Count as Infertile Couples? Antilesbian Discrimination in Assisted Reproduction." In Embodying Bioethics: Recent Feminist Advances, ed. A. Donchin and L. M. Purdy. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

Murray, T. H. (1996). The Worth of a Child. Berkeley: University of California Press.

New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. (1988). Surrogate Parenting: Analysis and Recommendations for Public Policy. New York: Author.

New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. (1998). Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Analysis and Recommendations for Public Policy. New York: Author.

Peters, P. G. (1989). "Protecting the Unconceived: Nonexistence, Avoidability, and Reproductive Technology." Arizona Law Review 31:487–548.

Roberts, D. E. (1996). "Race and the New Reproduction." Hastings Law Journal 47:935–949.

Robertson, J. A. (1994). Children of Choice: Freedom and the New Reproductive Technologies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Rothman, B. K. (1989). Recreating Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchal Society. New York: Norton.

Steinbock, B. (1988). "Surrogate Motherhood as Prenatal Adoption." Law, Medicine and Health Care 16 (Spring/Summer):40–50.

Warren, M. A. (1988). "IVF and Women's Interests: An Analysis of Feminist Concerns." Bioethics 2:37–57.


Other Resources

American Society for Reproductive Medicine. (2002). Ethical Considerations of Assisted Reproductive Technologies: ASRM Ethics Committee Reports and Statements. Available from www.asrm.org/Media/Ethics/ethicsmain.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2002). Assisted Reproductive Technology Reports. Available from www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/drh/art.htm.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. (2001). HFEA Code of Practice. Available from www.hfea.gov.uk/frame.htm.

CARL H. COLEMAN

Additional topics

Marriage and Family EncyclopediaPregnancy & Parenthood