Federalism and bioethics: Women's health and the regulation of oocyte donation

Abstract

The absence of comprehensive federal oversight of human biotechnologies in the United States continues to stimulate academic discourse on the relative merits of European-style regulatory agencies as compared to the current, decentralized approach. Many American bioethicists support the latter, maintaining that the key features of federalism--policy experimentation and moral pluralism--allows for the efficient regulation of these complex and contentious issues. This paper examines state-level regulation of oocyte donation to assess claims regarding the superiority of this decentralized regulatory approach. Further, this paper introduces an additional element to this examination of state law, which concerns the degree to which the health and safety of key participants is addressed at the state level. This inquiry assesses one facet of fertility medicine and biomedical research law, oocyte donation, an analysis that can be used to inform the broader discourse regarding the regulation of human biotechnologies and bioethical issues by the states.

Who Counts as Family? Gamete donation and the construction of family forms in medical markets

“…Second is the degree to which actors’ behavior is constrained by formal policies, where the more constrained actors’ behaviors are by organizational rules, the less scope the gender frame has to implicitly influence their behavior (Ridgeway, 2009, p. 153). Because donor requirements and anonymity are not regulated by the federal government and sparsely regulated by state governments (Von Hagel, 2014), Ridgeway’s theory suggests that cultural beliefs would be highly influential in the reproductive market.…”

“…Changing norms about the anonymity in gamete donation also evolved with a changing legal landscape. The loose federal regulations governing gamete donation in the United States make no mention of anonymity, leaving the management of gamete donor information up to state legislatures (see Heidt-Forsythe, 2018; Von Hagel, 2014) and individual organizations. Many other countries, like Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, banned anonymous gamete donation (Burr, 2009; Cowden, 2012; Yee, 2009) in support of the idea that children conceived of donor gametes have the right to access their complete medical and genetic history (Cowden, 2012).…”