Reproductive Technology And Surrogacy

During the past few years, reproductive technology and surrogacy have emerged in a number of European countries as issues of debate. There has been a steady increase in the use of reproductive technology in the Nordic countries, as well as an increase in the use of cross-border medical treatment in order to achieve pregnancy. At the same time, a number of ethical issues have been raised concerning the rights of the participants, including the children. In the fall of 2013, the Nordic Committee on Bioethics organised a conference in Reykjavik that focused on the current situation in the Nordic countries and on the global aspects of reproductive technology and surrogacy, including the market that is emerging in this field. This conference summary highlights the main ethical issues facing researchers, policymakers and practitioners who deal with these issues.

From one of the world’s leading authorities, a practical resource guide filled with the essential information you need to know about assisted reproduction Third-party reproduction is now easier, more accessible, and more successful than ever before, yet it is still a complex process. Before you start down this path to parenthood, there are important questions to consider such as, “How are sperm, eggs, and embryos screened?”, “How do I find a donor?”, or “What are the legal issues surrounding surrogacy?” Here, psychologist Kim Bergman—an expert in the field and a mother herself through assisted reproduction—provides the answers you need and more. Your Future Family provides a roadmap for navigating the journey of building a family through assisted reproduction. It outlines the very first steps you should take, the options available to you at each turn, and includes essential advice and tips to help set you up for success. Filled with personal anecdotes from Bergman’s own life, as well as the lives of her clients, this book brings the human element of creating a family this way to life. The definitive primer on assistant reproduction,Your Future Family provides a foundational knowledge of the entire process, includes essential facts, as well as a list of resources to help you along the way. Kim Bergman’s expertise and her open, honest approach will inspire confidence to fulfill your dreams of creating a family.

A quiet revolution has been taking place during the past three decades. The way that children enter families has changed radically among upper middle class families. In the 1980s infertility increasing became defined as a medical problem that could be solved with assisted reproductive technologies (ART) rather than through adoption. Asexual or ‘assisted conception’ involving medical technologies such as in vitro fertilization and embryo transfers began to replace sexual reproduction for infertile couples. Third parties, referred to as surrogates are hired to assist individuals and/or couples who wish to conceive and child with whom they share a genetic tie. This has resulted in a ‘surrogate baby boom.’ Outsourcing the Womb provides a critical introduction to the global surrogacy market. A comparative analysis of the assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy industry in Egypt, Israel, India and the United States disentangles the intersecting roles of race, religion, class inequality, religious law, and global capitalism. Gestational surrogacy challenges the idea of ‘natural’ reproduction and of the meaning of parenthood. What role should the state play in providing individuals and families with access to reproductive technologies? This book concludes with a discussion of ‘reproductive justice’. The goal of this new, unique series is to offer readable, teachable "thinking frames" on today’s social problems and social issues by leading scholars, all in short 60 page or shorter formats, and available for view on http://routledge.customgateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social Issues Collection now offers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide "overviews" to important social issues as well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously published by Routledge and other presses.

This book is the first to bring together an interdisciplinary collection of essays on surrogacy and egg donation from three socially, legally and culturally distinct countries - India, Israel and Germany. It presents contributions from experts in the field of social and cultural sciences, bioethics, law as well as psychology and provides critical-reflective comparative analysis of the socio-ethical factors shaping surrogacy and egg donation practices across these three countries. This book highlights the importance of a comparative perspective to ‘make sense’ of controversies and transitions in this highly contested area of artificial reproductive technologies. It demonstrates how local developments cannot be isolated from global events and vice versa. Therefore, this volume can be used as a standard reference for anyone seeking to understand surrogacy and egg donation from a macro-perspective in the next decade.

Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Global South and North critically analyses the political and social frameworks of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), and its impact in different countries. In the context of a worldwide social pressure to conceive – particularly for women – this collection explores the effect of the development of ARTs, growing globalisation and reproductive medicalization on global societies. Providing an overview of the issues surrounding ART both in the Global South and North, this book analyses ART inequalities, commonalities and specificities in various countries, regions and on the transnational scene. From a multidisciplinary perspective and drawing on multisite studies, it highlights some new issues relating to ART (e.g. egg freezing, surrogacy) and discusses some older issues regarding infertility and its medical treatment (e.g. in vitro fertilisation, childless stigmatisation and access to treatment). This book aims to redress the balance between what is known about Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Global North, and how the issue is investigated in the Global South. It aims to draw out the global similarities in the challenges that ARTs bring between these different areas of the world. It will appeal to scholars and students in the social sciences, medicine, public health, health policy, women’s and gender studies, and demography.

"Authors Theresa Erickson and Mary Ann Lathus [sic] bring more than fifteen years of experience in guiding clients through the process of having a baby. In clear, concise, and matter-of-fact language, Erickson and Lathus emphasize what to look for and what to do at every step. Assisted Reproduction covers the entire field of assisted reproduction including: surrogacy; egg donation; sperm donation; embryo donation; legal rights and responsibilities; choosing a physician; choosing an attorney; selecting an agency; nontraditional families."--From cover.

An ethicist traces an infertile couple's journey through the moral and legal maze of reproductive alternatives

A clinical handbook on gestational surrogacy, with thorough guidance for clinicians involved in global third-party reproductive treatment.