Mother Jones Examines Complexity Of ART, Embryos Left Over After IVF

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 13 Jul 2006 - 15:00 PDT

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The July/August issue of Mother Jones examined the "simple yet difficult-to-answer" question of whether all women should have a right to access assisted reproductive technologies. According to Mother Jones, screening at fertility clinics is a concern for gay men, lesbians, people with disabilities, women over age 39 and women with "severely compromised fertility," who often are refused services. Almost no U.S. public policy exists to define which ART procedures should be legal, the number of fetuses a woman should be permitted to carry and age limits for ART-induced pregnancies, according to Mother Jones. In addition, the "level of public debate about ART is so far behind the technology that we haven't even decided who should be deciding what's legal and just: the government, doctors or patients themselves," Mother Jones reports. The article also examined the disparities between who receives ART, adding, "[I]f you are wealthy and infertile you are much more likely to" conceive than if "you are infertile and poor" because so few insurance companies cover ART procedures (Weil, Mother Jones, July/August 2006).

Embryos Left Over After IVF
The July/August issue of Mother Jones also examined issues surrounding the accumulation of embryos that remain after in vitro fertilization procedures. According to Mother Jones, the growing "embryo glut" is likely to "complicate" society's views on "human life at its earliest stages" and "morally what is the right thing to do with it." The impact of IVF embryos can be seen on a national level, where the federal government has found the embryo a "slippery creature to define," Mother Jones reports. The effect of IVF embryos also can be seen on a "more subtle and personal level," where their "existence illuminates how the newest reproductive technologies are complicating questions about life," according to Mother Jones. The article also examined the varying positions of abortion-rights opponents on the issue (Mundy, Mother Jones, July/August, 2006).

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