From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Tue Aug 28 2001 - 18:35:26 MDT
Forwarding something which may be of interest to some of you extropes
tonight ... Olga
> Subject: NIGHTLINE: Fertility and the Law
>
>
> TONIGHT'S FOCUS: For some parents these days, making a baby is less an act
> of physical intimacy and more like a legal and financial transaction.
> While these technologies have helped countless childless adults become
> parents, it has also created a slew of legal quandaries. The question that
> the courts are often left to answer is, what makes a parent?
>
> ----
>
> Egg donors. Sperm banks. In vitro fertilization. Surrogate mothers. All of
> these modern day reproduction techniques have helped thousands of people
> become parents who might otherwise never have had that opportunity. And
> it's probably fair to say that in the overwhelming majority of cases,
> these families are the better for it. Few of these families ever end up
> in court, battling for custody or money or both.
>
> But some do. These technologies have also spawned a slew of complicated
> lawsuits. Perhaps you have heard of some of these well publicized cases.
> There is the case of the surrogate mother who discovered she was carrying
> twins and refused to abort one of the fetuses, as the adoptive parents'
> contract required. There is the case of the couple who, through in vitro
> fertilization, were able to conceive not one, but four children through
> anonymously donated sperm. But when the parents divorced before the birth,
> who is required to pay child support? The sperm donor or the ex-husband?
>
> As Lewis Carroll wrote in "Alice in Wonderland", things are getting
> "curioser and curioser."
>
> Tonight Nightline's Chris Bury reports on several of these current
> lawsuits. As Chris explains, the law is like the turtle to the hare of
> technology. While medical science and the internet create new and more
> complicated family arrangements every year, the courts move achingly
> slowly, especially where precedent is so scarce. State and federal
> legislatures have largely been loathe to write new laws in these areas, as
> politicians run from them like political hot potatoes. Ted Koppel will
> moderate a discussion about the ethical and legal morass with two women
> experts in these fields. As you will see tonight, none of these
> situations has easy answers.
>
> We hope you'll join us.
>
> Tuesday, August 28, 2001
>
> Sara Just
> Senior Producer
> ABC News NIGHTLINE
> Washington bureau
>
> -----------
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