Fertility and the Family

This is a report on the medical, ethical, and social issues surrounding reproductive technology. The report was produced for the European Commission by a working party headed by Jonathan Glover, with members from half the countries of the European community. "The focus of this report is not on the techniques, but on their human impact. We look first at three main groups involved: parents, donors and children. In some cases they have different interests, and we develop an approach to the conflicts that arise. We also try to bring out the way these apparently 'medical' matters raise issues that go to the heart of the kind of society we want. The next part of the report is about surrogate motherhood. We discuss conflicts of interest....[and] consider the issues raised by proposals for commercial agencies in this field. Next we discuss the issues raised by embryo research, together with other issues such as the possibility of using foetal organs for transplants....Finally, we discuss the way these new techniques can enable us to influence the kinds of people who are born." The geographic scope is worldwide. (Excerpt).