Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared on PSmag.com on September 28, 2015, with the headline “The Messy, Complicated Nature of Assisted Reproductive Technology.” This edited version was published in our January/February 2016 print issue.
In our March/April 2015 issue, Rachel Rabkin Peachman detailed the unusual story of adopted sisters Jodie and Shannon, who created a new family structure using assisted reproduction technology techniques like in-vitro fertilization. Shannon is the biological parent of her sister’s child, and Jodie is the aunt of the children she birthed. In late September, the Los Angeles Times detailed a precedent-setting case involving a recently divorced couple, Dr. Mimi C. Lee and Stephen E. Findley, who are now battling over the future of their frozen embryo. “If Lee prevails, Findley could be forced to become a parent against his will. If Findley wins, it is extremely unlikely that Lee, now 46, will ever have a genetically related child,” wrote reporter Maura Dolan. Lee was diagnosed with cancer that will prevent her from being able to have a baby without the embryo.
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