Americans United for Life published “Studies in Law and Medicine” in the 1970s and 1980s, spotlighting issues pertaining to the human right to life across the bioethics spectrum. As Americans United for Life celebrates our 50th anniversary, we are making these issues available for the first time since their print publication.
Scientists Advocate Policy: In Vitro Fertilization in Australia by Hiram Caton, Ph.D.
Public policy debate over birth technologies remained relatively dormant in the United States until quite recently. However, surrogate motherhood, fetal tissue transplants, and a “new look” at embryo experimentation have created a flurry of media coverage, legal commentary, and legislative initiatives. A new Congressional commission on bioethics, while inactive at this writing, has been charged to issue its first study on the question of experimentation upon the human embryo. In addition, a variety of public and private institutions will undoubtedly take up the question in coming years.
This monograph, along with many of Caton’s other writings on bioethics, establish his ability to analyze the myriad of political, ethical, and scientific components of issues such as in vitro fertilization and embryo experimentation. We offer this latest AUL Study in the hope that it will contribute to greater understanding of these issues not only in the United States, but wherever such understanding is needed.
