by Jacqueline Laing

About the author: Jacqueline Laing is a lawyer, lecturer, and free-lance journalist in London, England. She completed her doctorate in moral and legal philosophy at Brasenose College, University of Oxford.

It is over 20 years since the birth of Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby. Photographs of chubby toddlers transforming into attractive women persuade us to accept the totality of the new reproductive technologies. Indeed the consulting room walls of renowned experts in the field, such as the much-televised Professors Robert Winston and Ian Craft, bristle with photographs of their young creations and grateful commissioning parents. And it is hard not to welcome a vision of this sort. But the reality behind these undeniably appealing images must give us pause.

An Industry That Manufactures Babies

In 20 years, a new multi-million pound industry has sprung up, offering in many...