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

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

U.S. States

The Brave New World: Should we tread down the path to human germline editing?

By Sheetal Soni, South African Journal of Bioethics and Law | 06.01.2021

Gene-editing tools such as the CRISPR-Cas9 system create an opportunity for individuals to have their DNA edited for specific purposes...

Human Genetic Modification

Two New Laws Restrict Police Use of DNA Search Method

By Virginia Hughes, The New York Times | 05.31.2021

New laws in Maryland and Montana are the first in the nation to restrict law enforcement’s use of genetic genealogy...

Policies

Orchard Exits Life-Saving Bubble-Baby Research in Wake of Flap Over Patient Access

By David Jensen, The California Stem Cell Report | 05.28.2021

Orchard Therapeutics this morning formally announced it was giving up on its life-saving treatment for the bubble baby disease and...

Plastic models of various stages of embryonic development

Stem cell research community drops 14-day limit on human embryo research

By Françoise Baylis, The Conversation | 05.27.2021

^{Image via Flickr CC BY 2.0}

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which bills itself as “the...

Synthetic Biology

A startup says it helps parents pick healthier embryos. Experts say it’s not that simple

By Melody Petersen, Los Angeles Times | 05.26.2021

The decision of whether to have a child can be hard even under the best of circumstances. For those with...

Assisted Reproduction

Stem cell guidelines open door to more permissive research on human embryos

By Kelly Servick, Science | 05.26.2021

The world’s largest stem cell society this week signaled a willingness to reconsider a long-standing restriction on laboratory efforts to...

Human Genetic Modification

Limit on lab-grown human embryos dropped by stem-cell body

By Nidhi Subbaraman, Nature | 05.26.2021

The international body representing stem-cell scientists has torn up a decades-old limit on the length of time that scientists should...

Genomics

Controversial New Guidelines Would Allow Experiments On More Mature Human Embryos

By Rob Stein, NPR | 05.26.2021

For decades, scientists have been prohibited from keeping human embryos alive in their labs for more than 14 days. The...

Animal Biotechnologies