Early Pregnancy Loss in an Era of "Wrongful Embryonic Death".

This Viewpoint examines the possible legal consequences of pregnancy loss following the Alabama Supreme Court's decision to extend personhood to laboratory-conceived embryos.

"Editing" Genes: A Case Study About How Language Matters in Bioethics.

Metaphors used to describe new technologies mediate public understanding of the innovations. Analyzing the linguistic, rhetorical, and affective aspects of these metaphors opens the range of issues available for bioethical scrutiny and increases public accountability. This article shows how such a multidisciplinary approach can be useful by looking at a set of texts about one issue, the use of a newly developed technique for genetic modification, CRISPRcas9.

Egg freezing, stratified reproduction and the logic of not.

This commentary examines social and political implications of social egg freezing in a market that is stratified, globalized, and part of a larger bioeconomy. John Robertson's article and public discourse prompted by Facebook and Apple's 'corporate egg freezing' benefits provide touchstones for interrogating social and industry practices that embrace making reproductive capacity marketable. Supply of the cells and bodies necessary for assisted reproductive technology use depends on market thinking and structural inequality. What the industry produces are carefully calibrated social-political distances between participants in egg freezing and banking, as well as 'third party reproduction.'

A transparent oversight policy for human anatomical specimen management: the University of California, Davis experience.

The authors describe the development and implementation of a University of California (UC) system of oversight, education, tracking, and accountability for human anatomical specimen use in education and research activities. This program was created and initially implemented at UC Davis in 2005. Several incidents arising out of the handling of human anatomical specimens at UC campuses revealed significant challenges in the system for maintaining control of human anatomical specimens used in education and research. These events combined to undermine the public perception for research and educational endeavors involving anatomical materials at public institutions. Risks associated with the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of these specimens were not fully understood by the faculty, staff, and students who used them. Laws governing sources of specimens are grouped with those that govern organ procurement and tissue banking, and sometimes are found in cemetery and funeral regulations. These variables complicate interpretations and may hinder compliance. To regain confidence in the system, the need to set appropriate and realistic guidelines that mitigate risk and facilitate an institution's research and educational mission was identified. This article chronicles a multiyear process in which diverse stakeholders developed (1) a regulatory policy for oversight, (2) a policy education program, (3) procedures for tracking and accountability, and (4) a reporting and enforcement mechanism for appropriate and ethical use of human anatomical specimens in university education and research.