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6. The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF

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Beyond Bioethics
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73Robert G. Edwards might not be a household name, but the innovation he pioneered along with Patrick Steptoe certainly is. In vitro fertilization (IVF), the process whereby human eggs are fertilized outside of the body and the resulting embryos implanted in a woman’s womb, led to the 1978birth of Louise Brown—the world’s first “test tube baby.” To date, an esti-mated five million children worldwide have been born using this innova-tion. Edwards received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this remarkable achievement.Edwards’s passing (in early 2013) prompted an outpouring of praise. He [was] widely described as a maverick researcher disinterested in personal recognition, who simply wanted to give babies to those who couldn’t make them on their own. The New York Times quoted Edwards’s former collabo-rator, Barry Bavister, as saying “Dr. Edwards’s motivation—his passion, in fact—was not fame or fortune but rather helping infertile women.” Bavister continued, “He believed with all his heart that it was the right thing to do.”But Edwards’s views on the technology he created and the uses to which it should be put may be more complicated than this portrayal. One detail omitted from the obituaries published around the world was that Edwards was a member in good standing of the Eugenics Society in Britain for much of his career. Recently uncovered documents show that Edwards served on the organization’s council—its leadership body—as a trustee on three 6. The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVFOsagie K. ObasogieAdapted with permission. Copyright © 2013. Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. Originally published by Osagie K. Obasogie, “The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF. “ Scientific American. October 4, 2013. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eugenic-legacy-nobel-ivf/.
© 2019 University of California Press, Berkeley

73Robert G. Edwards might not be a household name, but the innovation he pioneered along with Patrick Steptoe certainly is. In vitro fertilization (IVF), the process whereby human eggs are fertilized outside of the body and the resulting embryos implanted in a woman’s womb, led to the 1978birth of Louise Brown—the world’s first “test tube baby.” To date, an esti-mated five million children worldwide have been born using this innova-tion. Edwards received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this remarkable achievement.Edwards’s passing (in early 2013) prompted an outpouring of praise. He [was] widely described as a maverick researcher disinterested in personal recognition, who simply wanted to give babies to those who couldn’t make them on their own. The New York Times quoted Edwards’s former collabo-rator, Barry Bavister, as saying “Dr. Edwards’s motivation—his passion, in fact—was not fame or fortune but rather helping infertile women.” Bavister continued, “He believed with all his heart that it was the right thing to do.”But Edwards’s views on the technology he created and the uses to which it should be put may be more complicated than this portrayal. One detail omitted from the obituaries published around the world was that Edwards was a member in good standing of the Eugenics Society in Britain for much of his career. Recently uncovered documents show that Edwards served on the organization’s council—its leadership body—as a trustee on three 6. The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVFOsagie K. ObasogieAdapted with permission. Copyright © 2013. Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. Originally published by Osagie K. Obasogie, “The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF. “ Scientific American. October 4, 2013. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eugenic-legacy-nobel-ivf/.
© 2019 University of California Press, Berkeley

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations xi
  4. Foreword xiii
  5. Acknowledgments xxv
  6. Note to Readers xxvii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Part I. The biopolitical critique of bioethics: Historical context
  9. 1. The Biological Inferiority of the Undeserving Poor 17
  10. 2. Making Better Babies 32
  11. 3. Eugenics and the Nazis 52
  12. 4. Why the Nazis Studied American Race Laws for Inspiration 60
  13. 5. Constructing Normalcy 63
  14. 6. The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF 73
  15. Part II. Bioethics and its discontents
  16. 7. A Sociological Account of the Growth of Principlism 81
  17. 8. Why a Feminist Approach to Bioethics? 94
  18. 9. Disability Rights Approach toward Bioethics? 106
  19. 10. Differences from Somewhere 118
  20. 11. Bioethical Silence and Black Lives 128
  21. 12. The Ethicists 132
  22. Part III. Emerging Biotechnologies, Extreme Ideologies
  23. 13. The Genome as Commons 153
  24. 14. Yuppie Eugenics 163
  25. 15. Brave New Genome 169
  26. 16. Can We Cure Genetic Diseases without Slipping into Eugenics? 175
  27. 17. Cyborg Soothsayers of the High-Tech Hogwash Emporia 186
  28. Part IV. Markets, Property, and the Body
  29. 18. Flacking for Big Pharma 199
  30. 19. Your Body, Their Property 212
  31. 20. Where Babies Come From 216
  32. 21. Dear Facebook, Please Don’t Tell Women to Lean In to Egg Freezing 226
  33. 22. The Miracle Woman 228
  34. Part V. Patients as Consumers in the Gene Age
  35. 23. What Is Your DNA Worth? 241
  36. 24. Should Patients Understand That They Are Research Subjects? 250
  37. 25. Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests Should Come with a Health Warning 252
  38. 26. Genetic Testing for All Women? 256
  39. 27. Welcome, Freshmen: DNA Swabs, Please 259
  40. 28. Me Medicine 264
  41. 29. Public Health in the Precision-Medicine Era 267
  42. Part VI. Seeking Humanity in Human Subjects Research
  43. 30. Medical Exploitation 273
  44. 31. The Body Hunters 280
  45. 32. Guinea-Pigging 289
  46. 33. Human Enhancement and Experimental Research in the Military 301
  47. 34. Non-Consenting Adults 314
  48. Part VII. Baby-Making in the Biotech Age
  49. 35. Generation I.V.F. 319
  50. 36. Queering the Fertility Clinic 328
  51. 37. Reproductive Tourism 339
  52. 38. Make Me a Baby as Fast as You Can 350
  53. 39. Let’s Get Rid of the Secrecy in Donor-Conceived Families 355
  54. Part VIII. Selecting Traits, Selecting Children
  55. 40. Disability Equality and Prenatal Testing 361
  56. 41. The Bleak New World of Prenatal Genetics 376
  57. 42. Have New Prenatal Tests Been Dangerously Oversold? 379
  58. 43. Sex Selection and the Abortion Trap 387
  59. 44. A Baby, Please: Blond, Freckles— Hold the Colic 393
  60. Part IX. Reinventing Race in the Gene Age
  61. 45. Straw Men and Their Followers 399
  62. 46. The Problem with Race-Based Medicine 410
  63. 47. Race in a Bottle 415
  64. 48. The Science and Business of Genetic Ancestry Testing 422
  65. 49. All That Glitters Isn’t Gold 428
  66. 50. High-Tech, High-Risk Forensics 435
  67. Part X. Biopolitics and the Future
  68. 51. Die, Selfish Gene, Die 441
  69. 52. Toward Race Impact Assessments 461
  70. 53. Human Genetic Engineering Demands More Than a Moratorium 472
  71. 54. “Moral Questions of an Altogether Different Kind” 475
  72. Afterword 493
  73. Contributors 507
  74. Index 511
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520961944-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations xi
  4. Foreword xiii
  5. Acknowledgments xxv
  6. Note to Readers xxvii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Part I. The biopolitical critique of bioethics: Historical context
  9. 1. The Biological Inferiority of the Undeserving Poor 17
  10. 2. Making Better Babies 32
  11. 3. Eugenics and the Nazis 52
  12. 4. Why the Nazis Studied American Race Laws for Inspiration 60
  13. 5. Constructing Normalcy 63
  14. 6. The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF 73
  15. Part II. Bioethics and its discontents
  16. 7. A Sociological Account of the Growth of Principlism 81
  17. 8. Why a Feminist Approach to Bioethics? 94
  18. 9. Disability Rights Approach toward Bioethics? 106
  19. 10. Differences from Somewhere 118
  20. 11. Bioethical Silence and Black Lives 128
  21. 12. The Ethicists 132
  22. Part III. Emerging Biotechnologies, Extreme Ideologies
  23. 13. The Genome as Commons 153
  24. 14. Yuppie Eugenics 163
  25. 15. Brave New Genome 169
  26. 16. Can We Cure Genetic Diseases without Slipping into Eugenics? 175
  27. 17. Cyborg Soothsayers of the High-Tech Hogwash Emporia 186
  28. Part IV. Markets, Property, and the Body
  29. 18. Flacking for Big Pharma 199
  30. 19. Your Body, Their Property 212
  31. 20. Where Babies Come From 216
  32. 21. Dear Facebook, Please Don’t Tell Women to Lean In to Egg Freezing 226
  33. 22. The Miracle Woman 228
  34. Part V. Patients as Consumers in the Gene Age
  35. 23. What Is Your DNA Worth? 241
  36. 24. Should Patients Understand That They Are Research Subjects? 250
  37. 25. Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests Should Come with a Health Warning 252
  38. 26. Genetic Testing for All Women? 256
  39. 27. Welcome, Freshmen: DNA Swabs, Please 259
  40. 28. Me Medicine 264
  41. 29. Public Health in the Precision-Medicine Era 267
  42. Part VI. Seeking Humanity in Human Subjects Research
  43. 30. Medical Exploitation 273
  44. 31. The Body Hunters 280
  45. 32. Guinea-Pigging 289
  46. 33. Human Enhancement and Experimental Research in the Military 301
  47. 34. Non-Consenting Adults 314
  48. Part VII. Baby-Making in the Biotech Age
  49. 35. Generation I.V.F. 319
  50. 36. Queering the Fertility Clinic 328
  51. 37. Reproductive Tourism 339
  52. 38. Make Me a Baby as Fast as You Can 350
  53. 39. Let’s Get Rid of the Secrecy in Donor-Conceived Families 355
  54. Part VIII. Selecting Traits, Selecting Children
  55. 40. Disability Equality and Prenatal Testing 361
  56. 41. The Bleak New World of Prenatal Genetics 376
  57. 42. Have New Prenatal Tests Been Dangerously Oversold? 379
  58. 43. Sex Selection and the Abortion Trap 387
  59. 44. A Baby, Please: Blond, Freckles— Hold the Colic 393
  60. Part IX. Reinventing Race in the Gene Age
  61. 45. Straw Men and Their Followers 399
  62. 46. The Problem with Race-Based Medicine 410
  63. 47. Race in a Bottle 415
  64. 48. The Science and Business of Genetic Ancestry Testing 422
  65. 49. All That Glitters Isn’t Gold 428
  66. 50. High-Tech, High-Risk Forensics 435
  67. Part X. Biopolitics and the Future
  68. 51. Die, Selfish Gene, Die 441
  69. 52. Toward Race Impact Assessments 461
  70. 53. Human Genetic Engineering Demands More Than a Moratorium 472
  71. 54. “Moral Questions of an Altogether Different Kind” 475
  72. Afterword 493
  73. Contributors 507
  74. Index 511
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