Fertility Industry in Dire Need of Oversight

Television actress Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiancé are tussling over what should happen to embryos they created through in vitro fertilization in 2013.

The 42-year-old Modern Family actress wants the two female embryos to remain frozen indefinitely. Her ex, Nick Loeb, is suing to gain control over them. In a New York Times op-ed, Loeb wrote that he wants them implanted in a surrogate and that he intends to raise the children himself.

Courts in similar cases have typically ruled in favor of those wishing to avoid bringing such embryos to term. In this case, the contract states that the embryos can be brought to term only with both parties' consent, but it did not provide for a plan in the event of separation — only death.

This clash is the predictable result of an assisted reproduction industry that some experts liken to the Wild West in terms of its regulatory environment, and to Frankenstein's monster in terms of its ethical ramifications. It highlights the necessity of revisiting the ethical and legal questions at the heart of a business that's...