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    Biotechnology

    Embryos could count as people too in our post-Roe world

    Post-Dobbs, amidst a rise in laws establishing "fetal personhood," fertility doctors and their patients fear for the future of IVF.

    August 24, 2022
    stylized map of the United States with caption, 83,000+ IVF babies born in the U-S in 2019. On the state of Texas it reads: 20 states with laws banning most or all abortions.
    Even if the words and context are clear from a legal reading, I'm not given much comfort- we've seen so many strange interpretations from the courts.
    It has been extraordinary especially for families with histories of certain genetic ailments
    There is a fear of genetic testing of embryos being restricted or banned.

    Even if you're abel to do genetic testing but discarding an embryos is akin to murder, there could be no more storage of embryos
    Or we could see more people implanting an embryo at a time where it's unlikely to result in a pregnancy, like when someone has their period.
    All these things are just more invasive, and expensive, and that impacts who is able to access services.
    People have asked me, is the answer a legislative carve out for IVF? The answer is making sure women are treated as equal citizens. Seema Mohipatra, Health law and bioethics expert at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

    Deep Dive

    Biotechnology

    The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born

    Meet the startups trying to engineer a desktop fertility machine.

    Doctors have performed brain surgery on a fetus in one of the first operations of its kind

    A baby girl who developed a life-threatening brain condition was successfully treated before she was born—and is now a healthy seven-week-old.

    A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will.

    Her case highlights why we need to enshrine neuro rights in law.

    The FDA just approved rub-on gene therapy that helps “butterfly” children

    Biotech companies are getting creative with how they deliver DNA fixes into people's bodies.

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    Illustration by Rose Wong

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