CGS-authored
‘Give me children or I shall die,” said Rachel to her husband Jacob, speaking for many women of the Bible who struggled to have children, and figured out how to do it. [Genesis 30:1] Rachel ordered Jacob to sleep with her servant; Sarah did likewise to Abraham. Tamar became pregnant by pretending to be a prostitute. And Hannah promised her son to the priesthood, if only God would give her one.
Today, these texts have special significance to the many American Jewish women who similarly do what is necessary to build a family. These days, that often means the latest reproductive technology, said Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist at Emory University. Yet even among American Jews, there is a small group sounding a warning about the risks of these technologies, and they root their work in their Judaism.
“There probably are connections to our Jewish identities and values for me, and I think for some others,” said Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit think tank near San Francisco. “I got into this work...
Today, these texts have special significance to the many American Jewish women who similarly do what is necessary to build a family. These days, that often means the latest reproductive technology, said Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist at Emory University. Yet even among American Jews, there is a small group sounding a warning about the risks of these technologies, and they root their work in their Judaism.
“There probably are connections to our Jewish identities and values for me, and I think for some others,” said Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit think tank near San Francisco. “I got into this work...