Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T20:48:22.644Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fetal Motherhood: Toward a Compulsion to Generate Lives?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2009

Andrea L. Bonnicksen
Andrea L. Bonnicksen
Affiliation:
Professor and assistant chair in the Department of Political Science at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A scientist at Edinburgh University announced in 1994 that he had removed ovaries from, mouse fetuses and transplanted them, to adult mice. The ovaries released eggs, and conceptions occurred. Although this was not the first such attempt with mice, the study attracted attention because the researcher suggested, that fetal to adult ovarian transplants were a theoretical possibility for humans. If aborted, fetuses were used, as egg sources in assisted conception, a new entity would arise: the never-born genetic mother. Using eggs from aborted fetuses for conception would lead to quixotic and novel family ties. Its use would echo surrogate gestational motherhood, in which a child has both a genetic mother who contributed her egg and a gestational mother who contributed her uterus for gestation and childbirth. With fetal egg use, however, the child's genetic mother would be a never-born fetus without sentience or known, physiology.

Type
Special Section: The Unborn and the Newly Born: Seeking Ethical Standards
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Winter 1997 , pp. 19 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Kolata, G. Fetal ovary transplant is envisioned. New York Times 1994 01. 6:10(col 4).Google Scholar

2. Holden, C., ed. Fetal egg cell research scare. Science 1994;265:608.Google Scholar

3. UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Donated ovarian tissue in embryo research and assisted conception: public consultation document. Human Reproduction 1994;9:931–5.Google Scholar

4. Seibel, MM. Cadaveric ovary donation. Letter to Editor. NEJM 1994;330:796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Ottawa: Minister of Government Services, 1993.Google ScholarPubMed

6. National Institutes of Health. Final Report of the Human Embryo Research Panel NIH, September 27, 1994.Google Scholar

7. UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 1994. See note 3.

8. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Fourth Annual Report. London: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 1995:19.Google ScholarPubMed

9. National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction. NABER analyzes uses of human fetal oocytes and ovarian tissue. NABER Report 1995;1:3.Google Scholar

10. Shushan, A, Schenker, JG. The use of oocytes obtained from aborted fetuses in egg donation programs. Fertility and Sterility 1994;62:449–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11. Thornton, MH, Francis, MM, Macaso, TM et al. , Immature oocyte retrieval during unstimulated in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle; (10 7–12, 1995):S100.Google Scholar

12. Cha, KY, Koo, JJ, Ko, JJ et al. , Pregnancy after in vitro fertilization of human follicular oocytes collected from nonstimulated cycles, their culture in vitro and their transfer in a donor oocyte program. Fertility and Sterility 1991;55:109–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Bennett, RA, Osathanondh, R, Yeh, J. Programmed cell death in second-trimester human fetal ovaries. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S166.Google Scholar

14. Zhang, J, Liu, J, Xu, K-p et al. , Extracorporeal development of human fetal ova. In: American Fertility Society Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, 1994 Annual Meeting,San Antonio(November 5–10, 1995):S2.Google Scholar

15. Edwards, JH, Benham, JD. Letter to Editor. The Lancet 1994;344:824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Lieberman, BA. Letter to Editor. The Lancet 1994;344:824.Google Scholar

17. Holt, E, Maddison, J, Sidebotham, M. Letter to Editor. The Lancet 1994;344:824.Google Scholar

18. Quigley, MM. The new frontier of reproductive age. JAMA 1992;268:1320–1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

19. Braverman, AM. Survey results on the current practice of ovum donation. Fertility and Sterility 1993;59:1216–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. See note 19. Braverman, 1993:1216.Google Scholar

21. Yaron, Y, Amit, A, Brenner, S et al. , In vitro fertilization and oocyte donation in women 45 years of age and older. Fertility and Sterility 1995;63:71–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

22. Sauer, MV, Paulson, RJ, Lobo, RA. Reversing the natural decline in human fertility: an extended clinical trial of oocyte donation to women of advanced reproductive age. JAMA 1992;268:1275–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23. See note 18. Quigley, 1992.Google Scholar

24. See note 14. Zhang, et al. 1994.Google Scholar

25. Gosden, RG. Transplantation of fetal germ cells. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 1992;9:118–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

26. See note 25. Gosden, 1992:119.Google Scholar

27. See note 25. Gosden, 1992:119–20.Google Scholar

28. Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, American Fertility Society. Assisted reproductive technology in the United States and Canada: 1993 results generated from the American Fertility Society/Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology registry. Fertility and Sterility 1995;64:13–21.Google Scholar

29. Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, American Fertility Society. Assisted reproductive technology in the United States and Canada: 1992 results generated from the American Fertility Society/Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology registry. Fertility and Sterility 1994;62:1121–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

30. Seibel, MM. Toward reducing risks and costs of egg donation: a preliminary report. Fertility and Sterility 1995;64:199–201.Google Scholar

31. Gordon, E, Hanafin, H, Mikesell, S et al. , Anonymous and non-anonymous oocyte donors: a comparison of their post retrieval attitudes. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S249.Google Scholar

32. Klock, SC, Braverman, A, Rausch, D. A prospective study of the psychological characteristics of anonymous egg donors. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S56.Google Scholar

33. Wagner-Coughlin, CM, Maravilla, AE, Janik, G. et al. Extracorporeal harvest of immature oocytes yields successful fertilization after in vitro maturation (IVM) and intercytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S211.Google Scholar

34. Zhang, J, Liu, J, Liu, B et al. , In vitro fertilization of human oocytes generated from in-vitro growth and maturation of preantral follicles. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S237.Google Scholar

35. Kolata, G. New surgery procedure removes parts of ovary for later implant. New York Times 1995 12. 12:1.Google Scholar

36. Carroll, J, Gosden, RG. Transplantation of frozen-thawed mouse primordial follicles. Human Reproduction 1993;8:1163–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37. Heineman-Kuschinsky, E, Davis, S, Borchard, E et al. , Assessment of recipient patient's concerns and feelings associated with anonymous oocyte donation. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, Seattle (10 7–12, 1995):S251–52.Google Scholar

38. Orenstein, P. Looking for a donor to call dad. New York Times Magazine 1995 06 28:28.Google Scholar

39. See note 37. Heineman-Kuschinsky, et al. 1995.Google Scholar

40. Daniels, KR, Taylor, K. Secrecy and openness in donor insemination. Politics and the Life Sciences 1993;12:155–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

41. See note 5. Royal Commission (1993):15.Google Scholar

42. See note 5. Royal Commission 1993:15.Google Scholar

43. Greenfeld, DA, Mazure, CM, Greenfeld, DG et al. , Social and psychological characteristics of donor oocyte recipients. In: American Society for Reproductive Medicine 1995 Abstracts of the Scientific Oral and Poster Sessions, Program Supplement, (October 7–12, 1995):S251.Google Scholar

44. See note 25. Gosden, 1992:118.Google Scholar

45. Burtchaell, JT. University policy on experimental use of aborted fetal tissue. IRB: A Review of Human Subjects Research 1988 10(4):7–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

46. See note 5. Royal Commission 1993:26.Google Scholar

47. Davis v. Davis. 1992 Tenn. LEXIS 400.

48. See note 25. Gosden, 1992:122.Google Scholar

49. Callahan, D. The troubled dream of life: living with mortality. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.Google Scholar