Bibliography

To be fair, I thought I'd share a few books with you that are in the background of my thinking on this reproductive ethics stuff.  I know there are piles of terrific books about these things, but mostly these three are lurking behind my recent writing on the issue (from my strollerderby Suleman posts to this recent one about PGD):

Making Parents: The Ontological Choreography of Reproductive Technologies by Charis Thompson

This one is mostly about assisted reproductive technologies and the problem of not regulating them in the United States.  The author is a mother via IVF.

Making Babies, Making Families: What Matters Most in an Age of Reproductive Technologies, Surrogacy, Adoption and Same-Sex and Unwed Parents by Mary Lyndon Shanley

I love this book.  Shanley shifts the bottom line from "best interest of the child" to the rights of the child.  Sound like the same thing?  Not remotely.  Everybody should read this book.  Right now.  Immediately.  Go on, click, buy, read.

The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank by David Plotz

This one is a less academic choice than the other two.  It's a highly readable account of the Nobel Sperm Bank written by a Slate contributor.  It gives a great overview of sperm banking (history of to current practices) and will demystify the notions they try to sell you at the big sperm bank websites.

I also read a fascinating, 85-page academic article about Indian surrogacy and its ethical tangles last week.  You can download it too from Ethica.

Comments

[Thorn]

I've read the last two books and agree that they're excellent, readable resources. Thanks for the link to the first one, which I hadn't heard of before this!