RACE AND THE NEW REPRODUCTION

Many legal scholars and social commentators have heralded the new repr oductive technologies as inherently progressive and liberating since n ot only do they enable sterile families to bear their own children, bu t they also permit novel family arrangements. In her essay, however, P rofessor Dorothy Roberts argues that these technologies serve to reinf orce the status quo, rather than to challenge it. In particular, Rober ts argues that race influences the choice of in vitro fertilization. R oberts focuses on the negative impact that images of and the racial di sparity in the choice of in vitro fertilization have on racial inequal ity in America. She argues that a complex interplay of financial barri ers, cultural preferences, and deliberate professional manipulation, h ave resulted in few African-American women taking advantage of in vitr o fertilization. Moreover, Roberts links in vitro fertilization to the premium that white society places on having a genetic tie with one's children, a premium that is founded in beliefs of white racial superio rity. Because of this negative impact on American society, Roberts con siders three options for public policy regarding in vitro fertilizatio n: continuing to allow its use, while recognizing the role of race in selecting reproductive technologies; increasing access to reproductive technologies for non-white women; and discouraging the use of these t echnologies altogether.