PHOTO: MICHAEL MANNING

Winter 2006 | Newsbriefs

Embryo Wars: Forum Lecture Series Tackles the Stem Cell Debate

There’s a war going on, and Susan Crockin ’79 is out there on the battlefield. “Embryo Wars” evolved through the Clinton and Bush administrations, according to Crockin, who developed one of the first legal practices in the country devoted exclusively to the legal aspects of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and family-building through adoption and collaborative reproduction almost 20 years ago. In November, Crockin brought her expertise to the law school for an NU Forum lecture, “Stem Cell Research: What Is It and Is It a Good Thing?”

The author of two books and dozens of articles, Crockin has lectured to lawyers, judges, doctors and nurses throughout the world on the legal and ethical issues relating to embryos and reproduction. During a lively presentation, Crockin explained the different ways that embryos are created, stressing the legal and ethical problems that have in part developed as a result of embryos now being held outside women’s bodies. When an embryo is in a dish and not a woman it dramatically changes the analysis: the right to privacy, so central to Roe v. Wade, disappears; there is then more ambiguity and complexity as to who “owns” the embryo.

During her lecture and through questions and answers, Crockin provided a detailed road map of how and where stem cells are available for research, and described the nature of what are estimated to be about 400,000 embryos in refrigerators in the United States. Crockin emphasized how important it is that lawyers be precise with their language about embryos. According to Crockin, a good deal of the emotion and rhetoric engendered by stem cell research results from the ongoing debate about abortion rather than about the potential benefits and burdens of research.

The lecture was cosponsored by the Student Bar Association, the Environmental Law Forum, and the Graduate and Professional Student Association.

Harper Helps End Juvenile Death Penalty

Six years ago, Stephen Harper ’84 cofounded the Juvenile Death Penalty Initiative (JDPI), a nationwide collaborative project to end the death penalty for juveniles. In 2002, he opted for a two-year leave of absence from his full-time duties as cocoordinator of the Capital Litigation Unit in the Dade County Office of the Public Defender to spearhead JDPI’s legislative efforts, working with the press, consulting on cases and securing the involvement of organizations and countries dedicated to this cause. Harper also coordinated the amicus briefs submitted to the US Supreme Court in the relevant case, Roper v. Simmons. In March 2005, the court held that the Eighth and 14th Amendments forbid the execution of offenders who are under the age of 18 when their crimes are committed.

On the steps of the Supreme Court, Stephen Harper (at microphone) addresses the press.