Manufacturing Babies and Public Consent : Debating the New Reproductive Technologies

In Manufacturing Babies and Public Consent, Jose Van Dyck sketches a map of the public debate on new reproductive technologies as it has evolved in the USA and Britain since 1978. Many people have participated in heated discussions on test-tube babies and in vitro fertilization, particularly medical researchers and feminists. The new technologies have been both embraced as the cure to infertility and condemned as the exploitation of women's bodies. Reconstructing this debate, Van Dyck juxtaposes a variety of textual material, from scientific articles to newspaper articles and works of fiction.