| Assisted
Reproductive Technologies (ART) and Families: Selected
Resources
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) are
used to help women become pregnant when they
are unable to conceive through normal intercourse
or to carry an infant to term. Techniques may
include in vitro fertilization (IVF), sperm or
egg donation, surrogacy, or other methods.
This list of selected resources focuses on psychological
and social impacts of ART on children conceived
via ART and on their families. The list also
provides resources related to ethical and legal
issues associated with ART. For the most part,
resources on this list are available electronically
at no charge.
Table of Contents
Web
Sites
Additional
Resources
Web
Sites
American Fertility Association (AFA) (U.S.)
AFA is geared toward men and women confronting infertility
issues and the physicians and therapists who serve
them. The Web site’s section on adoption and
third-party options covers topics such as embryo
donation, the frozen embryo dilemma, and talking
with children about ovum donation and their IVF origins.
Online message boards explore support for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families, IVF
outcomes, and third-party reproduction.
American
Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) (U.S.)
This society’s online materials include ART consumer-information
booklets, headlines in reproductive medicine, ethics
committee reports, practice guidelines, and other reference
and educational material. ASRM’s
Mental Health Professional Group has developed
resources addressing the psychological and emotional
components of ART, including book reviews and a publication
titled Annotated
Bibliography for Children and Parents of Third Party
Reproduction
American
Surrogacy Center (U.S.)
This consumer-oriented site provides 15 different online
discussion forums, including one for parents of children
born via ART.
ART: Talking to Children About Assisted Reproductive
Technology (U.S.)
This site was developed by the Harvard Medical School
Center for Mental Health and Media as an educational
tool for parents who have used ART and their children.
The site includes audio clips and written transcripts
from parents and children and advice on how to talk
to children and adolescents about ART, secrecy vs.
openness, and potential pitfalls. Also included are
an ART timeline, links to related organizations, and
recommended reading.
Donor
Conception Network (U.K.)
This network provides information and support to
help parents openly discuss their children’s
origins, whether through donor insemination or following
treatment with donated gametes. The site includes annotated
lists of books and links to resources (some materials
can be downloaded free of charge, including the “Telling
and Talking” booklet series .
Members can also join discussion forums.
Donor
Conception Support Group (Australia)
Founded in 1993, this voluntary organization is made
up of people who are considering or using donor sperm,
eggs or embryos, those who already have children conceived
on donor programs, adult donor offspring, and donors.
The Web site includes an annotated list of books, videotapes,
and other materials; product reviews; information sheets
for potential gamete donors; information for gamete
offspring; and updates on legislation in Australia
related to ART.
Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) (U.S. and International)
DSR assists people conceived as a result of sperm,
egg, or embryo donation who seek mutually desired contact
with others with whom they share genetic ties. The
Web site provides links to clinics in the United States
and several other countries and other tools to help
users locate relatives. News, articles, and information
on research studies are also posted on this site.
Family Equality Counsel (U.S.)
Formerly
known as Family Pride, this national organization advocates
for family equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer parents, guardians, and allies. Resources
include Real
Families, Real Facts: Research Symposium on LBGT-Headed
Families (findings from a
multidisciplinary symposium that focused on the latest
research about LGBT parents and their children).
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (U.K.)
This organization
is the United Kingdom’s independent
regulator overseeing safe and appropriate practice
in fertility treatment and embryo research. The Web
site provides online information (including fact sheets
and leaflets) for consumers, donors and donor-conceived
people and their families, clinic staff, and the media.
InterNational
Council on Infertility Information Dissemination
(INCIID) (U.S.)
This nonprofit organization helps individuals and couples
explore their family-building options, including the
use of ART. INCIID also hosts discussion forums and
online communities focusing on topics such as parenting
after the use of donor gametes and third-party reproduction.
In addition, the Web site provides an annual ART resource
directory and handbook (featuring articles by infertility
specialists) and a searchable database of professional
services for consumers.
National Conference of State Legislatures Genetic
Technologies Project: Assisted Reproduction (U.S.)
This project provides links to publications, Web sites,
and other resources on public policy and issues related
to ART to assist legislators, their staff, and others
in understanding the technology and its potential ethical,
legal, and social consequences.
National Reference Center for BioEthics
Literature (U.S.)
This center comprises a reference library for the public
and an in-depth research resource for scholars from
the United States and abroad. Online
databases provide bibliographic access to journals, newspapers,
books, bills, laws, court decisions, reports, and audiovisuals
as well as information on the resources and programs
of over 1,000 organizations focusing primarily on ethics
in medicine and scientific research. Coverage is international
in scope and includes groups from over 80 different
countries. The center receives funding from the National
Library of Medicine.
Additional Resources
Journal articles
A rapidly expanding body of journal
literature has focused on the mental- and emotional-health
aspects of ART. This information can be researched
in PubMed,
the online database of the National Library of Medicine.
Search tips: Enter the phrase “assisted
reproductive techniques” in the search box. Click on
the Limits tab, and choose the box for Humans and
the box for English (or other desired language).
Then click the Go button. Or use more specific topics
such as “artificial insemination” or “in
vitro fertilization.”
To narrow your search, add terms such as “child
development,” family, “social adjustment,” “parent
child relations,” personality, or psychology. Use
quotation marks around phrases so the terms will
be found together; quotation marks are not needed
for single words. Also limit the search by
date (using the Limits tab) to retrieve only more
recent items.
Online newsletters and journals
BioEdge (Australia)
This weekly online newsletter about bioethics is produced
by Australasian Bioethics Information, an independent
clearinghouse for information about cutting-edge bioethical
issues. Subscriptions are free, and the site provides
full access to BioEdge archives. Many articles explore
ethical issues related to IVF.
Bionews (U.K.)
This free-of-charge assisted-reproduction and human
genetics news service is a product of the Progress
Educational Trust. It includes daily news published
online or delivered weekly via E-mail, commentaries
(invited opinion pieces on ethical, social, and legal
issues), and updates, book and event recommendations,
overviews, and background information on news topics.
New York Times (U.S.)
This newspaper includes feature articles on the personal
aspect of ART. Good search terms include “egg
donor,” “sperm donor,” and “in
vitro fertilization.”
Books and reports
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (U.S.).
Forthcoming. Assisted
Reproductive Technology, Effectiveness, and Efficiency. Rockville,
MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This
evidence report covers risks and benefits associated
with ovulatory drug-induced pregnancies and pregnancies
achieved through IVF, differences among patient populations
(including racial and ethnic groups and different age
groups), and maternal and infant outcomes.
Arons J. 2007. Future
Choices: Assisted Reproductive Technologies and
the Law. Washington,
DC: Center for American Progress. This report provides
a basic overview of ART and discusses three primary
areas in which legislators and courts have spoken
to some degree (health insurance coverage, embryo
disposition, and parentage determinations), including
the policy implications of their decisions.
Clarke-Stewart A, Dunn J, eds. 2006. Families
Count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press. A chapter of
this book titled “New Family Forms,” by
Susan Bolombok (pp. 273-298) examines various issues
concerning child development and parenting within
new family forms such as single mothers, surrogate
mothers, and lesbian-mother families.
Covington SN, Burns LH, eds. 2006. Infertility
Counseling: A Comprehensive Handbook for Clinicians. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press. This handbook
explores medical counseling issues, third-party reproduction,
alternative family building, post-infertility counseling
issues, and ART’s impact on children.
Mundy L. 2007. Everything Conceivable: How Assisted
Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World. New
York, NY, Knopf. This book discusses the personal
impacts on people using ART to conceive and the moral,
ethical, and pragmatic decisions they make, as well
as social consequences for family structure, schools,
ideas of genetic relatedness, and the nation as a
whole.
President’s Council on Bioethics
(U.S.). 2004. Reproduction
and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies.
Washington, DC: President’s Council on Bioethics
(U.S.). This report includes discussion of the well-being
of the children conceived via ART and of the mothers
who give birth to them. Additional background papers
and recommendations for oversight of IVF and ART
are available at http://www.bioethics.gov/background/.
For more information
on this topic,
use the MCH Library Advanced
Search using the term Reproductive technologies.
Authors: Beth DeFrancis Sun, Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library
January 2008
|