And you thought the old song, "I'm My Own Grandpa," was just intended for lyrical humor, not a prophetic rendition of what was to come. Modern biotechnology now makes just about anything possible. In this case, Ann Stopler gave birth to her two twin grandchildren, Itai and Maya Chomsky, back in 2005 at then-age 58.
Ann's daughter, Caryn Chomsky, was 25 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The cancer was treated with radiation, but not before Caryn's eggs were harvested by doctors. After getting through the cancer treatments and recovering completely, she and her husband Ayal began looking at options for how they might have a family. Enter Ann Stopler. She offered to carry the fertilized embryos to term and ended up giving birth to the children 6 weeks early. (See their interview with Diana Sawyer here.)
With this kind of modern technology, the limits to what is possible are only bounded by our imagination. On the one hand, it is exciting to think of what positive benefit such technological advances can bring to a couple such as the Chomskys. On the other hand, however, we must not overlook the potentially-negative repercussions of what can happen when such technology is used irresponsibly.
And in the meantime, these kinds of scenarios create significant bioethical considerations that are often fraught with more complications than conclusions. My point is this: Because of the seemingly-boundless possibilities available to us through science, the need for firm moral boundaries by which to carefully navigate those corresponding bioethical considerations has never been more urgent.
As my dad and I often share with people when speaking on bioethical issues, it is now possible to harvest the eggs of an aborted fetus, fertilize them and implant them for delivery in another woman. And essentially what you end up with is the child of a mother who was never born. How do we responsibly deal with that reality?
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