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Biotechnology and health

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

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The quest to legitimize longevity medicine

Longevity clinics offer a mix of services that largely cater to the wealthy. Now there’s a push to establish their work as a credible medical field.

There is a new most expensive drug in the world. Price tag: $4.25 million

But will the latest gene therapy suffer the curse of the costliest drug?

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