News

Surrogacy goes more mainstream

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Emily Galpern] | 03.29.2026

More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, as the practice becomes more common and more publicly discussed.

Why it matters: As surrogacy becomes more visible and accessible, ethical, legal and cultural tensions become harder to ignore...

U.S. Federal

Eugenics and the Modern Synthesis, Part I

By Jessica Riskin, Los Ángeles Review of Books | 03.23.2026

This is the first part of the 14th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. The series is organized by...

Civil Society

Surrogacy laws are all over the map

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Surrogacy360] | 03.29.2026

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/

Why it matters: Confusing...

Policies

Project Eugenics: The Rollback of Disability Rights

By Kiana Jackson and Shannon Stubblefield, New Disabled South | 02.09.2026

^{"MC0_8230" via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by 2.0}

This report documents a deliberate assault on disabled people in...

U.S. States

Canada’s Right-Wing Think Tanks Love Race Science

By Mitchell Thompson, Jacobin | 04.11.2022

^{Photo of Charles Murray

by Gage Skidmore on Flickr}

When right-wing governments across Canada slash social programs and protections, they...

Eugenics

The Story of He Jiankui, Now Out of Jail After Editing DNA of Unborn Babies

By Ed Browne, Newsweek | 04.11.2022

^{Image of He Jiankui from Wikicommons}

Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui, who shocked the medical world by claiming he had used...

Human Genetic Modification

The First Baby Born After Polygenic Embryo Screening

By Kalina Kamenova & Hazar Haidar, Voices in Bioethics | 04.07.2022

ABSTRACT

This article examines the bioethical discourse on polygenic embryo screening (PES) in reproductive medicine in blogs and news stories...

Assisted Reproduction

Couple sues fertility clinic, saying they had to abort stranger’s baby

By Andrea Salcedo, The Washington Post | 04.06.2022

After several unsuccessful attempts to conceive a baby through in vitro fertilization, a Massachusetts couple learned last year that they...

U.S. States

‘It’s a thorny issue.’ Why a fight over DNA data imperils a global conservation pact

By Erik Stokstad, Science | 04.05.2022

For conservation biologists, the highest item on the global agenda this year is persuading the world’s nations to agree on...

Policies

The creator of the CRISPR babies has been released from a Chinese prison

By Antonio Regalado, Technology Review | 04.04.2022

The daring Chinese biophysicist who created the world’s first gene-edited children has been set free after three years in a...

Policies

Crispr Pioneer Expects to See Gene-Edited Babies Within 25 Years

By Angelica Peebles, Bloomberg | 04.04.2022

It’s been 10 years since Crispr pioneer Jennifer Doudna published the landmark paper that landed a Nobel Prize for her...

Human Genetic Modification

Desperately Seeking Surrogates

By Danielle Braff, New York Times | 04.02.2022

Charlie Lee and his husband want to have a baby.

But they are facing a major hurdle: They have 12...

Assisted Reproduction