Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Susan Crockin

LL.M Seminar 2030 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

The use of reproductive technologies—and crossing national borders to obtain them-- has become a burgeoning multi-billion dollar, international industry. While the desire to have children may be universal, legal protections and restrictions on access to reproductive technologies vary immensely from country to country, and often reflect conflicting cultural and religious values. This seminar will explore and compare a diverse number of legal systems’ approaches to selected reproductive technologies with a particular emphasis on the legal implications for “cross-border reproductive care” (“reproductive tourism”). Other topics will include: comparative access to and affordability of IVF, egg and sperm donation, and surrogacy; reprogenetics; treatment for same-sex couples; professional liability; and embryonic stem cell research (as it intersects with egg donation and the use of IVF embryos). Guest lectures will provide a medical and an ethical perspective to broaden an understanding of the legal and policy challenges in this unique field.