Click here to read Reproductive Technologies 101, an overview of reproductive technologies

The Obama administration’s decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception. (Washington Post)

A federal judge is considering whether Washington state can require pharmacies to stock and sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, even in the face of religious objections by druggists who believe they destroy human life. (Washington Post)

Taiwanese health authorities said Tuesday that tougher checks on illegal gender-selective abortions prevented nearly 1,000 terminations of female foetuses last year. (AFP)

Thirty-nine years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided. With the passage of nearly four decades, the landscape of abortion has changed in a way that should trouble even those who consider themselves pro-choice. (CNN)

Kaiser Permanente Northern California — Department of Medical Ethics
21st  Annual Symposium
Saturday, March 3, 2012
San Ramon Valley Conference Center

The Department of Medical Ethics residing within KP-TPMG Northern California invites you to attend its twenty-first annual Symposium. For this year’s symposium the topics are pulled from ethical “currents” running through modern health care. Our speakers and workshop leaders will cover varied topics such as medical futility, maternal-fetal conflict, professionalism in the age of social media, and the role spirituality can play in making health care decisions.  We look forward to sharing the day with you!

Registration and Information

The Supreme Court and the Obama administration, already headed for a face-off in March over the constitutionality of the healthcare law, appear to be on another collision course over whether church-run schools, universities, hospitals and charities must provide free contraceptives to their students and employees. (LA Times)

More twins are being born in the United States than ever before. (NY Times)

About 40 percent of in vitro fertilizations in the United States involve the transfer of three or more embryos, and more than 20 percent of pregnancies from IVF procedures result in multiple births. The health risks and expenses of these pregnancies are enormous. (NY Times)

The decision last night attracted criticism from pro-life campaigners, who said it risked trivialising terminations by putting them on the same footing as consumer choices such as different brands of car or detergent. (Telegraph)

The controversial technique known as “three-parent IVF” came a step closer yesterday after the Department of Health asked the fertility regulator to conduct a public consultation into its acceptability. (Independent)

The Obama administration said Friday that most health insurance plans must cover contraceptives for women free of charge, and it rejected a broad exemption sought by the Roman Catholic Church for insurance provided to employees of Catholic hospitals, colleges and charities. (NY Times)

A Massachusetts appeals court has verbally skewered a judge who ordered that a mentally ill woman have an abortion against her will even if it meant she had to be “coaxed, bribed, or even enticed” into a hospital. (MSNBC)

Public opinion will help decide the future of a controversial genetic technique to stop serious conditions being passed from mother to child. (BBC News)

A rising proportion of abortions worldwide are putting women’s health at risk, researchers say. (BBC News)

Researchers in California are attempting to make an artificial testicle that will produce human sperm. (ABC News)

The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 366, Issue 1, January 5, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “The Irrelevance of the Broccoli Argument against the Insurance Mandate” by E. Elhauge, available on-line.

• “Efficacy Results of a Trial of a Herpes Simplex Vaccine” by R.B. Belshe and Others, 34-43.

• “Genomic Medicine: Genomics and Perinatal Care” by J. Bodurtha and J.F. Strauss III, available on-line.

A fetus’s gender should not be revealed until after 30 weeks of pregnancy, says an editorial in the Canadian Medical Journal. (CBC News)

Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 38, Issue 1, January 2012) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Fear of a Female Planet: How John Harris Came to Endorse Eugenic Social Engineering” by Robert Sparrow.

• “Innovative Surgery: The Ethical Challenges” by Jane Johnson and Wendy Rogers.

• “A clear Case for Conscience in Healthcare Practice” by Giles Birchley.

• “When Should Conscientious Objection Be Accepted?” by Morten Magelssen.

• “Conscientious Objection in Medical Students: A Questionnaire Survey” by Sophie LM Strickland.

• “The Israeli Abortion Committees’ Process of Decision Making: An Ethical Analysis” by Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty and Alan Jotkowitz.

• “Privacy, Confidentiality and Abortion Statistics: A Question of Public Interest? by Jean V McHale and June Jones.

• “Do Guidelines on Euthanasia and Physician-assisted Suicide in Dutch Hospitals and Nursing Homes Reflect the Law? A Content Analysis” by B. A. M. Hesselink, B. D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, A. J. G. M. Janssen, H. M. Buiting, M. Kollau, J. A. C. Rietjens, H. R. W. Pasman.

• “Abortion Decisions as Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria in Research Involving Pregnant Women and Fetuses” by Carson Strong.

• “What Does ‘Respect for Persons’ Require? Attitudes and Reported Practices of Genetics Researchers in Informing Research Participants about Research” by Fiona Alice Miller, Robin Zoe Hayeems, Li Li, Jessica Peace Bytautas.

• “Research and Complicity: The Case of Julius Hallervorden” by Franklin G. Miller.

Like millions of couples, Beth and Richard are on a quest to have a baby. But unlike most, their labor of love is launching them on a cross-country odyssey that has been 10 years in the making. (ABC News)

The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 365, Issue 21, January 12, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “The Politics of Emergency Contraception” by A.J.J. Wood, J.M. Drazen, and M.F. Greene, available on-line.

• “The Constitutionality of the ACA’s Medicaid-Expansion Mandate” by I.G. Cohen and J.F. Blumstein, available on-line.

• “Expanding Eligibility, Cutting Costs — A Medicaid Update” by J.K. Iglehart, available on-line.

A new study of fertility treatment found that women who get three or more embryos have no better odds of having a baby than those who get just two embryos. (Washington Post)