Unintended Consequences and the Limits of Personal Freedom
by: John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera
BreakPoint
Frozen embryos aren’t the only “byproducts” of advanced reproductive technology: moral and legal confusions are as well.
Divorce is a brutal experience, especially for children. For many, it’s a traumatic experience from which they never fully recover. Today, given the incredible strides made in artificial reproductive technologies, there’s an entire class of children on the other side of the birth canal whose post-divorce fate is almost never given even a moment’s thought: frozen embryos.
By some estimates, there are nearly a million frozen embryos in the U. S. That’s as many people as live in San Jose, California.
Embryos are the intended byproduct of our reproductive technologies, most notably in-vitro fertilization. But unlike other “byproducts,” there’s no moral or even biological difference between those frozen and those eventually born. If you implant them in a woman’s womb and let nature takes its course, approximately 37 weeks later, the result is what is undeniably a human being.
We insist on ignoring this reality. But every once in a while, events conspire that force us to look reality in the face.
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