Voluntary isn't working

Each year, assisted reproduction quietly helps thousands of people in their quest for children biologically related to them. But the fertility field has been far from quiet of late. In recent weeks, two scandals burst into the headlines

The first stories about the Southern California octuplets, in late January, focused on the novelty and details of their birth. But shock and then outrage quickly followed as news of the mother's circumstances and the fertility doctor's recklessness emerged. Entertainment news has yet to tire of the story; a more sober conversation about the need for additional policy and oversight is also simmering.

A few weeks later, the Wall Street Journal reported that another Los Angeles-area fertility clinic had begun advertising the "pending availability" of embryo screening to select for hair color, eye color and even skin tone. As that story bubbled into network and cable news, it elicited a reaction similar to the one surrounding the octuplets: What's going on here? How can irresponsible fertility doctors get away with this sort of thing?

These questions are not being asked only by...