Since the founding of bioethics, considerable discourse has revolved around human life at some of its most fragile states, namely the beginning and end. Questions about what constitutes personhood and the roles and consequences of technology in these states have been posed and re-examined in light of the startling and impressive scientific developments that resulted in assisted reproduction. On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown was born — the first baby created using in vitro fertilization. Her birth sparked heated debate over a wide range of issues: cloning, separation of sexuality from reproduction, commodification of gametes and embryos, disposal of embryos, embryo ownership, rightful claims of parenthood, and pre-implantation research.
While these issues are being discussed, advances in reproductive technologies enable assisted reproduction to be a feasible option for infertility. This collection of essays delves into some of the issues that surround assisted reproduction, concentrating on reproductive donation involving various permutations of third parties. In reproductive donation, conception of a child “is likely to take place in a clinic with others involved in providing the eggs, sperm, embryo or sometimes the uterus in which the fetus grows” (p. 1). Thus, biological parenthood becomes separated from social parenthood, with the latter commonly recognized as the child’s “actual” parents. The opening chapters lay out the practice of reproductive donation, introducing ethical issues that are detailed in later chapters. The work as a whole is grounded in the U.K.’s policies, and the discussions of how countries regulate reproductive donation are often compared against the U.K. perspective. The last half of the work tackles the social, ethical, and policy issues that reproductive donation raise, including transnational donation, recruitment of donors, intra-family donation, single parents, gay and lesbian couples, disclosure, and identifiable donors.
Overall, the book is well laid out, exploring the topics with sufficient detail and depth for an interested lay reader. Despite the many contributors, the tone is consistently engaging and straightforward, with each chapter neatly presenting the various perspectives and arguments for its selected topic. In crafting their arguments, most of the contributors rely upon empirical studies instead of grounding their claims in philosophical discussion. Using a philosophical framework could bolster their discussions of the issues, allowing the contributors to better parse out the tensions within reproductive donation. And surprisingly, with the exception of one chapter, the contributors do not draw upon parallel discussions related to adoption, which may have a body of literature that could assist scholars in reproductive donation. However, on the whole, the book is a valuable contribution in presenting from a variety of perspectives the many issues posed by reproductive donation.