Embryos, Ethics, and Women's Rights

This groundbreaking collection of papers delivered at two conferences of lawyers, scientists, ethicists, humanists and religious leaders at the City University of New York and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explores technologically controlled childbearing: so-called ""surrogate motherhood,'' in vitro fertilization, fetal monitoring and genetic manipulation of embryos. The work reveals the myriad perspectives from which the new technologies can be regarded. Particularly thought-provoking are discussions that link surrogacy to economic and class issues. William Ruddick, of New York University asks, ``Why are womenespecially poor, untrained womento be denied a familiar form of labor which they may prefer to the other exploitative options they have?'' Baruch, an English professor at York College-CUNY, an editor of this volume, counters that ``surrogacy gives a man the opportunity to buy a womb of his own, without any concern for the woman to whom it is attached.'' D'Adamo is a biology professor at York College-CUNY, and Seager is coordinator of women's studies at MIT. (April)