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

Opinion: Here are some questions about the pig heart transplant that people actually should be asking

By Arthur Caplan, Laura Kimberly, Brendan Parent, and Tamar Schiff, The Washington Post | 01.14.2022

Arthur Caplan, Laura Kimberly, Brendan Parent and Tamar Schiff are members of the transplant ethics and policy working group in...

Animal Biotechnologies

New infographic highlights ethical issues ‘on the horizon’ in biology and medicine

By The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, The Nuffield Council on Bioethics News | 01.13.2022

Would the use of artificial wombs during pregnancy change the nature of parenthood? Can genomic analysis be used to accurately...

Genetic Selection

Whose baby is this? IVF mix-ups & other reasons to change the law

By Ellen Trachman, TEDxMileHigh | 01.08.2022

What happens when a couple freezes embryos to conceive a baby later, but they get divorced? What if egg and...

Policies

The Questions We Should Really Be Asking After Reading the NY Times Article About Prenatal cfDNA Screening For Microdeletions

By Robert Resta, The DNA Exchange | 01.08.2022

As the genetic counseling world knows all too well, the New York Times recently published a story about prenatal cfDNA...

Society

How Widespread Prenatal Testing for Microdeletions Can Hurt Patients and Why the Genetic Testing Industry Needs More Accountability

By Katie Stoll, Gene Cuisine | 01.04.2022

^{_{image "Blood Samples" by Daniel Sone from the website of the National Cancer Institute}}

The New York Times published an important...

Biopolitics

California Will Compensate Survivors of Eugenics’ Forced Sterilizations

By S.E. Williams, Black Voices News | 01.03.2022

On New Year’s Eve California Governor Gavin Newsom announced another important action in the state’s ongoing effort to redress historical...

Society

Cover of "The Genetic Lottery" by Kathryn Page Harden

Does it really matter if you win or lose the genetic lottery?

By Joseph L Graves Jr, The Lancet | 01.01.2022

Kathryn Paige Harden, Professor of Psychology who leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab at the University of Texas at Austin...

Genetic Selection

a pregnant woman in exam room talks to man in white coat w/ clipboard

When They Warn of Rare Disorders, These Prenatal Tests Are Usually Wrong

By Sarah Kliff and Aatish Bhatia, The New York Times | 01.01.2022

^{Photo by CDC on Unsplash}

After a year of fertility treatments, Yael Geller was thrilled when she found out she...

Assisted Reproduction