In this episode, Therese Markow and Kim Mutcherson discuss the legal and ethical implications of the increasing number of frozen embryos and the complications of assisted reproductive technologies. With an estimated over 1 million frozen embryos in the United States, this is a complex topic, particularly around state laws, embryo disposition, the financial costs of IVF, and the potential increased regulation and legal challenges moving forward.

Key Takeaways:

There is no hard data on how many embryos are currently frozen around the world, but there are estimated to be millions.
States differ, legally speaking, as to whether an embryo is considered a person. How do we determine what obligations related people have to an embryo?.

There are many different options for what you can have done with your embryos, and those outcomes should be included in the contract before any medical care is provided. Because laws regarding frozen embryos vary from state to state and this should be considered when people are looking to set up a clinic or go through the process.

"Once you have created a business - an industry - that creates human beings, it is inevitable that you are going to run into all sorts of really difficult issues. You can't get around it. It's just the nature of the thing. And so if we're going to have this industry, and if it's going to exist, we're going to constantly be asking ourselves difficult legal questions, difficult ethical questions, and difficult moral questions." — Kim Mutcherson

Connect with Kim Mutcherson:

Professional Bio: https://law.rutgers.edu/kimberly-mutcherson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-mutcherson/

X: https://x.com/ProfessorMutch

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

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