Miscellaneous

Parenthood x 3

By Anne Skove, Esq.

There are single moms, single dads, and various couplings thereof. But until now, nobody, not even a so-called "test-tube babies," has three biological parents.

How radical is this? Much less so than it first appears. Not to paint all these possibilities with the same brush, but we have grown accustomed to step-parents, surrogate moms, sperm donors, IVF, open adoptions, same-sex parents, and grandparents as primary caregivers. Polyamory, even, is making something of a comeback, as children of divorce grow up in search of a different option.

Remember the controversies of yore? Paul Simon's "baby with the baboon heart" lived only 21 days. Today, only human hearts are used for such transplants, making the most durable issues presented by her case informed consent (or lack thereof), the ethics of knowingly conducting doomed experiments, and competition for available (human) organs.

Here, the reason for the combination is gene therapy. The research was funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. The goal is to combat inherited diseases. Because only trace elements of each parent's mitochondria are used, experts caution that it's a misconception to say the embryo has "3 parents."

What changes might a three-parent situation present? Should parenting ever figure into the equation (currently it does not), custody would still be decided in the child's best interests. The situation would probably be more akin to surrogacy, only to a lesser degree, as only portions of cells (as opposed to an entire womb) are involved.

The real issues are those surrounding the process itself. As with stem-cell research, the extent of governmental regulation and its concomitant politics could be the hottest buttons of all.

See The Bioethics of a Three-Person Embryo, Brandon Keim, Wired (February 5, 2008); Health Highlights, Washington Post (February 5, 2008); Embryos Created with DNA from 3 People, AP (February 5, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).