New developments in reproductive technology have made headlines since the birth of the world's first in vitro fertilization baby in 1978. But is embryo experimentation ethically acceptable? What is the moral status of the early human embryo? And how should a democratic society deal with so controversial an issue, where conflicting views are based on differing religious and philosophical positions? These controversial questions are the subject of this book, which, as a current compendium of ideas and arguments on the subject, makes an original contribution of major importance to this debate. Peter Singer is the author of many books, including Practical Ethics (CUP, 1979), Marx (Hill & Wang, 1980), and Should the Baby Live? (co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Oxford U.P., 1986).

Carl Djerassi is one of "the fathers of the Pill"--he was awarded the National Medal of Science for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive--and has had a prolific additional career as a writer of fiction, plays, and dialogues about science. In these two plays, ICSI and Taboos , he dramatizes the social transformations and contested viewpoints created by advances in reproductive science and technology. Two of the most startling developments in contemporary science have radically disrupted the historical connection between sex and reproduction: in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)--an assisted reproductive technique that directly injects a single sperm into an egg. The word play ICSI --designed for classroom readings--presents, in the format of a contentious talk-show dialogue, the science of direct-injection fertilization and the ethical issues connected with it. A DVD included in the book provides video of the ICSI injection process as viewed through a microscope, to be used in performances of the ICSI one-act dialogue. Taboos, a full-length play, turns the screws on characters that reflect a polarized America. Two couples--lesbian partners and a conservative husband and wife struggling with infertility--must make choices in a drama that examines the disjunction of sexual reproduction and the physical act of sex.

One of the most challenging issues of the 21st century is the impending separation of sex (in bed) and reproduction (under the microscope) as a result of recent advances in contraception and assisted reproduction. Many of the ethical and societal issues associated with these new reproductive technologies, notably intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), are raised in an unusual format -- namely in dialogic form -- which is both entertaining and pedagogically informative.