Choice Review

Human ability to control reproduction has increased dramatically during the past few decades. Infertile couples and postmenopausal women can how have children; gametes and embryos can be stored for future use; and zygotes can be genetically tested before implantation. However, all of these technological advances are embedded in greater ethical, economic, and social debates, often centered on issues involving individual choice versus public regulation. How does the interplay between these two levels work? Who should be making decisions with regard to reproduction? In this book, sociologists, ethicists, historians, and legal scholars tackle various debates surrounding private versus public regulation of reproduction. Fourteen chapters cover different topics ranging from rights and reproductive choice, conceptualization of the embryo, eugenics, power in making reproductive decisions, who should bear the cost of treatment, ownership of gametes and other fetal tissue, and ethical and individuals aspects of using fertility treatments on postmenopausal women. Each chapter is unique, some written in literary style, others in data specific/research format; what binds them together is the provocative way in which each confronts the matters of public versus private regulation of reproductive technologies. A resource for anyone who is grappling with any of the debates surrounding reproductive technology. General readers; undergraduates through professionals. N. Krusko Beloit College