A.I.D.- An Heir of Controversy

Authors

Charles E. Rice, Notre Dame Law School

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1959

Publication Information

34 Notre Dame Law. 510 (1959).

Abstract

What is this thing called artificial insemination? Is it a menace to society? Or is it a fantasy of little moment beyond the precincts of 1984 and the "Brave New World"? Or does the fact lie somewhere in between? Whatever your view, you can readily bolster your position by citing respectable authority. For example, a respected advocate declaims that, "Nothing in modem times has so seriously challenged the basic concept of our society founded as it is on the biological tripod of father, mother and child which we call the family unit." Oppositely, a competent man of medicine notes that, because of medical advancements against the scourge of sterility, "artificial insemination in the United States is not a widespread or growing practice; on the contrary, it is being used less and less as time goes on."

On the practicality and morality of the matter, an equally discordant clash of opinions will be found, ranging from the lyrical praise of utopian eugenists ("Who knows but that in this way we might even be able to prevent another Hitler or some similar aberration of the genes. Is this not one of the easiest and most direct ways of improving offspring and promoting a life of less personal heartbreak and of greater happiness for the entire human race?"), to the scathing denunciation by an "eminent Jewish scholar" ("Such human stud-farming exposes society to the gravest dangers which can never be outweighted by the benefits that may accrue in individual cases."). On the factual question of the extent of the practice, and its posture of ebb or flow, the fair appraisal probably lies between the extremes, that is, between regarding it as a genetic wave of the future or, on the other hand, as a receding eddy of novelty, wholly outmoded by the progress of science. However, the religious and social problems attendant upon artificial insemination are not so readily dismissed. Their resolution is a matter properly beyond the competence of this article. But, because no analysis of the legal implications of artificial insemination would be complete without some canvass of the deeper issues inextricably involved, this survey of the cases and comments will conclude with a selection of religious, ethical and social pronouncements on the subject.

Comments

Reprinted with permission of Notre Dame Law Review (previously Notre Dame Lawyer).

Recommended Citation

Charles E. Rice, A.I.D.- An Heir of Controversy, 34 Notre Dame Law. 510 (1959)..
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/904