The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781591396208)

Despite legislation that claims to prohibit it, there is a thriving market for babies spreading across the globe. Fueled by rapid advances in reproductive medicine and the desperate desires of millions of would-be parents, the acquisition of children--whether through donated eggs, rented wombs, or cross-border adoption--has become a multibillion dollar industry that has left science, law, ethics, and commerce deeply at odds.

In The Baby Business, Debora Spar argues that it is time to acknowledge the commercial truth about reproduction and to establish a standard that governs its transactions. In this fascinating behind-the-scenes account, she combines pioneering research and interviews with the industry's top reproductive scientists and trailblazers to provide a first glimpse at how the industry works: who the baby-makers are, who makes money, how prices are set, and what defines the clientele. Fascinating stories illustrate the inner workings of market segments--including stem cell research, surrogacy, egg swapping, "designer babies," adoption, and human cloning--as Spar explores the moral and legal challenges that industry players must address.

The first purely commercial look at an industry that deals in humanity's most intimate issues, this book challenges us to consider the financial promise and ethical perils we'll face as the baby business moves inevitably forward.

Author: Debora L. Spar
ISBN-10: 1591396204
ISBN-13: 9781591396208
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Language: English
Published: 02/01/2006
Pages: 298
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.38lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.52w x 1.13d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/02/2006 pg. 52
Library Journal 02/01/2006 pg. 89
Christianity Today 08/01/2006 pg. 63
LJ Best Business Books 03/15/2007 pg. 33