Reproductive
Technology
Vaughn Ch. 8
Issues
Vaughn, p354, lists issues related to ART: Assisted
Reproductive Technology:
• nature and meaning of the family
• the treatment of women
• moral status of embryos
• value of human life
• sanctity of natural procreation
• legitimacy of “reproductive rights”
an ad from
http://www.sharedjourney.com/ivf.html
IVF
In Vitro Fertilization is the process of getting an embryo
implanted by these steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ovarian stimulation
Egg retrieval
Insemination / fertilization
Embryo culture
Embryo transfer
In vitro (in glass) as opposed to In Utero (in the uterus)
or In Vivo (in life)
General IVF Issues
Vaughn says
• At last count, 2 million infertile
couples in the U.S.
• IVF costs average $12,400 (per cycle)
• Success rate is just 28%
• Health risks increase for mothers
and children (read p357, column 1)
• Storage of embryos, ownership
questions (read column 2)
http://www.advancedfertility.com/cryotank.htm
Harm to Children
Argument
Since there is a non-trivial increase in health risks to children
conceived through IVF, Vaughn presents the pro and con
arguments using Cynthia Cohen’s piece Give me children or
I shall Die! …
Harm to Children Argument (p358): IVF isn’t as safe as natural
conception, therefore it’s wrong to use it
Interest in Existing Argument (same): even if some kids are
damaged, even severely, it is better to be alive than not
No Harm in Not Existing Argument (same): the interest in
existing argument is confused: there is no harm to
possible persons when they fail to be conceived
Additional Arguments
Vaughn considers the argument that IVF leads us to view
offspring as manufactured products or commodities
acquired in the marketplace for a price.
Reply 1: money doesn’t mean parents would love kids any less
Reply 2: adoption involves prices and payments, so, if market
makes IVF wrong, it makes adoption wrong too
Does Reply 2 work? What relevant difference is there
between IVF and adoption?
Vatican Argument
The Vatican argues IVF is
•
•
•
•
contrary to the unity of marriage
to the dignity of spouses
to the vocation proper to parents
to the child’s right to be conceived and brought into
the world in marriage and from marriage
How might IVF be contrary to the unity of marriage? the
dignity of spouses? So on…???
Feminist Argument
Feminists have argued that
1. IVF makes it harder to resist the social pressures to
procreate
2. Such pressure amounts to coercion.
3. Therefore, IVF is oppressive to women
Mary Ann Warren argues what in response? p359
Must Show Harm?
Vaughn’s final word on IVF is to agree with John Robertson
that
• reproductive freedom is good
• because freedom is good,
• and if you want to restrict it, you must show where the
harm is p359-360
Surrogacy
Part 2
Surrogacy
2 Types:
Traditional Surrogate (Surrogate is biological Mother)
Gestational Surrogate (Womb for Hire)
Gestational surrogates are genetically unrelated (or not
directly related … we’re all genetically related after
all) to the offspring
Traditional Surrogacy is more problematic
Baby Selling?
Top of p362 Vaughn claims the critics of surrogacy
(which on the previous page he notes is illegal in
some states … both sorts?) usually complain about
“commercial surrogacy,”
less so against
“altruistic surrogacy,”
where women volunteer their services.
Baby Selling?
The critics charge that
• the selling of such services “undermine the norms of
parental love.”
Reply:
• “She [the surrogate] is not selling an existing close
relationship with someone, but selling or forfeiting
the right to enjoy a future parent-child relationship.”
Is there a duty that goes unmentioned here? Whose?
Baby Selling?
Reply 2:
•
“the practice is not that different from
adoption, in which biological parents give
away their children (and any hope of a
relationship with them)”
Reply to reply 2:
•
“adoption is … for placing children in
families when their parents cannot or will
not discharge their parental
responsibilities. It is not a sphere for the
existence of a supposed parental right to
dispose of one’s children for profit.”
This clip was removed
from youTube … if you
have Netflix, see crucial
speech at 38 minutes into
episode 16 of Season 3,
‘The Offspring’
Baby Selling?
Bonnie Steinbock argues that baby selling, which she
thinks occurs, could be circumvented by viewing
surrogacy as ‘prenatal adoption’.
Read her reasoning on p362.
• Does it work?
• What’s the last word on Surrogacy?
• Is it okay to intentionally create babies knowing you
will be depriving them of one or another of their
biological parents?
• Does allowing visitation with a remote parent help?
Cloning
Part 3
Pro-Cloning Arguments
Vaughn, p364…
1. Cloning does not result in identical individuals anymore than
identical twins does, even less so as the birth environment will
be hormonally and nutritionally different
2. Cloning would allow infertile adults to be biologically connected
to their children, rather than being satisfied with adoption of
other’s children
3. Cloning would be a way to retrieve a portion of a child who dies
in an accident, of disease, etc.
4. Cloning would allow us to grow a body full of spare parts in
case injury or disease destroys ours
Anti-Cloning Arguments
1.
Cloning violates a person’s right to a
unique identity
2. Cloning violates a person’s right to
ignorance or to an ‘open future’
3. Cloning is an unnatural process and
people prefer natural to unnatural
4. Cloning is dehumanizing because of
its technological nature
Reply to Anti-Cloning
Argument
Reply to 4:
Vaughn quotes Dan Brock:
It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that a
human being created by human cloning is of less
value or is less worthy of respect than one created by
sexual reproduction. It is the nature of the being, and
not how it is created, that is the source of its value
and makes it worthy of respect.
Can you think of a reply to this argument? Is it correct?