Testing embryos webinar, Big Question, fertility preservation
Latest News
December 11, 2025
Testing Embryos: How Far Should We Go? Watch the webinar
Genetic testing of embryos is advancing fast—but how far should we go? A Hastings webinar on December 3 featured a fascinating and frank conversation with a parent of two “darling designer babies,” a fertility doctor, and a national leader in reproductive bioethics on a range of ethical issues, including parental choice, affordability, and the specter of eugenics. Vardit Ravitsky moderated the webinar, which kicked off our new series, “Frontiers in the Ethics of Human Reproduction.” Learn more and watch the webinar.
Big Question Series Moves to PBS Journalist participant awarded
Throughout the year, The Hastings Center collaborated with the Museum of Science in Boston on the popular Big Question series. The videos in the series are now being broadcast on PBS. Learn more.
One of the videos – “What do embryos mean in our society considering that science gives us so many options today for building our families?” -- featured journalist Anna Louis Sussman and was released with her three-part series on the topic in the New York Times. Sussman received the gold award for in-depth reporting in this year’s AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. Learn more.
Do Girls Have a Right to Fertility Preservation? It's a matter of reproductive justice for those treated for cancer
While cancer treatments have increased life expectancy, infertility is often a negative effect. A new technique allows fertility preservation for very young girls, even before puberty, by extracting ovarian tissue and implanting it back later in life. Offering this to preadolescent girls undergoing cancer treatments is an ethical duty, argues a new article, co-authored by Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky. The authors surveyed pediatric oncologists in France and Canada and conclude that access to this intervention is a matter of reproductive justice. Read the study.
De-Extinction? Deliberate Extinction? Should we use genetic technologies to recreate some species and eradicate others?
From the dire wolf to the screwworm, scientists are turning to genetics to recreate–and eradicate–entire nonhuman species. A webinar featuring Hastings senior research scholar Gregory Kaebnick will explore how and why genetic technologies might be used in these ways, with a focus on recent efforts and near future possibilities. Tomorrow, noon Eastern time. Learn more and register.
Our End-of-Year Appeal is Here We are grateful for your support
Thank you for so generously supporting The Hastings Center for Bioethics this Giving Tuesday. With your help, we raised nearly $30,000! If you haven’t donated yet, don’t worry… there is still time to make your end-of-year gift:https://www.thehastingscenter.org/donate25/.
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