A New Recipe for a Family?
Some gay men are becoming dads by using an egg donor and a gestational surrogate, creating fertile ground for new ethical and legal issues. In the Washington Post article, Art Caplan notes that "when you have to use medical technology to create a pregnancy and have unusual social arrangements it raises more questions." The key question, he goes on to say, is 'Who's going to protect these children' " if a parent dies, becomes disabled or a relationship dissolves? Although laws have been proposed by such bioethicists as Alexander Morgan Capron to regulate egg donation and surrogacy, the legislatures have been loath to address these issues and difficult cases have ended up in court. To read more about the potentially thorny legal and ethical issues, click here.-- Linda Glenn
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But doesn't Caplan's question--"Who's going to protect these children if a parent dies, becomes disabled, or a relationship dissolves?"--apply to all parents, regardless of sexual orientation?
What *does* seem to be a new and different concern is the commercialization of conception and gestation.
- by Sue on Jan 21, 2005 at 5:57 PM | link
But doesn't Caplan's question--"Who's going to protect these children" if a parent dies, becomes disabled, or a relationship dissolves--apply to all prospective parents, regardless of their sexual orientation?
What *does* seem to be a new and different concern, OTOH, is the commercialization of conception and gestation.
- by Sue on Jan 21, 2005 at 6:00 PM | link