How Many People Does it Take to Make a Baby?

Professor Sonia Suter Analyzes the Implications of In Vitro Gametogenesis, a New Reproductive Technique
December 22, 2015
DNA

One day it may be possible for a same-sex couple to have a child biologically related to to both of the parents. It may be possible for a single individual to procreate without the genetic contribution of another individual. It may even be possible for groups of more than two individuals to produce children who are the genetic progeny of them all. All of these things could happen because of scientific advances in a reproductive technique called “in vitro gametogenesis” (IVG).

Professor Sonia Suter considers the ethical and legal implications of this technology in a new article in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences. “These scientific advances raise important questions about what IVG might mean for human procreation,” she wrote.

Professor Suter is a scholar of bioethics and health policy. Prior to entering law school she earned a master’s degree and achieved PhD candidacy in human genetics.

“IVG potentially offers some of the same benefits as many other types of [assisted reproductive technology],” she found in her analysis. “It also raises a host of legal and ethical issues...among these issues are concerns about the ‘unnaturalness’ of the means of procreation, the difficulties of determining parentage, challenges to the meaning of procreation and parentage, and worries about physical and psychosocial harms to the future child.”

But will this technology be ultimately helpful or harmful? Professor Suter concludes that the assessment of IVG and its potential benefits and harms will depend entirely on the social, scientific, and legal context in which it is situated and how it is used.  She finds that the technology will be arguably preferable to some forms of assisted reproductive technology, but also suggests that it will only exacerbate problems of increasingly expansive prenatal selection.

Read the Full Paper


Media Coverage of Professor Suter's Research

  • International Business Times | December 21, 2015

"New technique could help same-sex couples have a child biologically-related to both partners"

  • The Huffington Post | December 18, 2015

"Same-Sex Couples Could Have Babies With Genes From Both Parents Thanks To Scientific Breakthrough"

  • NY Daily News | December 18, 2015

"We should be wary of in vitro gametogenesis, which could create test tube babies with genes from more than two people"