Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Table of Contents - January 2012 - Volume 21, Issue 01  

Special Section: Open Forum

Research Priorities and the Future of Pregnancy

TIMOTHY F. MURPHY

The term “ectogenesis” has been around for about a century now, and it is generally understood as the development of embryos and fetuses outside a uterus. In this sense, all in vitro fertilization (IVF) is ectogenesis, but in vitro development can only proceed to a certain point, at which time human embryos are then either implanted in the attempt to achieve a pregnancy, frozen for that use in the future, used in research, or discarded.

Timothy F. Murphy, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy in the Biomedical Sciences Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago.

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