Making Babies: Biomedical Technologies, Reproductive Ethics, and Public Policy

This work tries to show that problematic evaluations of technologies such as IVF may be as dangerous as no evaluation at all. Because technology assessments may give people a false sense of security, poor ones may serve as a legitimization of premature, dangerous, or misunderstood decisions. Careful analysis of technology assessments may uncover particular epistemological and ethical problems that could misguide public policy. This text offers an evaluation of four prominent institutional assessments of IVF. This philosophical analysis reveals how inadequate assessments may produce policies that are not in the public's best interests.