Conception

• Author: Maureen A. McTeer
• Pages: 6-6

6 *

PART

ONE:

Conception

Nowhere will technology

and

modern medicine touch

us

more intimately than

in

human reproduction.

Our

power

to

create human

life

in the

laboratory will

revolutionize

how we

view

and

treat

life,

cure disease,

and

define

our

most intimate

personal

and

family

relationships.

In

this part, reproductive

technologies

and

practices

are

identified

and

their impact

is

assessed. Management, professional training,

and

account-

ability

are

explored along with

the

conflicts that

are

created

for

our

traditional

family

relationships when strangers

join

the

reproductive relationship

as

donors

and

surrogates, when

grandmothers carry their grandchildren,

and

sisters become

both

mother

and

aunt

to

each

other's

children.

Finally,

embryos created

in the

laboratory

are not

always

used

only

for

reproduction. They also

become

available

for

research. Where will that research lead? What

are the

values

we

want

to

protect

in

human embryo research?

How can

we

protect

the

embryo

from

abuse

as a

limitless tool

of

modern research? Should some kinds

of

research, such

as

human reproductive cloning,

for

instance, never

be

tried?

Who

decides these questions

and how

will Canadians have

a

real role

in

setting

the

rules? Part

One

looks

for

some

of

these

answers.