Making Babies in the 21st Century

University College London

Course

Online

Free

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Description

  • Type

    Course

  • Level

    Intermediate

  • Methodology

    Online

  • Class hours

    2h

  • Duration

    6 Weeks

  • Virtual classes

    Yes

This free online six-week course will help you understand the choices that surround assisted reproduction and explore the challenges posed by reproductive technology.
It takes as its starting point a person or couple who want to make a baby but can’t, due to their infertility, advanced age, sexuality or lack of partner.
It will look at human reproduction in an age where reproductive technology is becoming the norm and will explore the social, ethical and legal challenges that currently confront us.

About this course

The course will enable you to:
explore how technology is changing the way babies are made and how family life is constructed
appreciate the key ethical dilemmas that these new technologies bring
gain awareness of the social aspects of the relevant ethical challenges

The course is for anyone with an interest in reproductive technology, including:
medical and healthcare students
clinicians and nurses working in women’s health
scientists and biotechnologists involved in reproductive medicine

You can buy a personalised, digital or printed FutureLearn certificate of participation on completing the course.

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Reviews

This centre's achievements

2018

All courses are up to date

The average rating is higher than 3.7

More than 50 reviews in the last 12 months

This centre has featured on Emagister for 14 years

Subjects

  • Technology
  • Dilemmas
  • Biological
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biological Systems Plus
  • Anonymous donor
  • Abnormalities
  • Egg donor
  • Making Babies
  • Testing

Course programme

Anyone deciding to use reproductive technology to help them in their quest to have biological offspring is confronted with a vast array of choices and dilemmas.

This course will consider a number of these, including:

  • the choice to have a sperm or egg donor
  • using a known or an anonymous donor
  • using a surrogate (and, if so, doing so in an ethical way)
  • testing the fetus for genetic abnormalities
  • choosing a gender or a genetic profile
  • deciding what kind of family the baby will eventually call their own

All of these issues pose urgent ethical challenges. But who decides what’s right or wrong? Who is potentially harmed? And how is this changing our society?

See related categories

Making Babies in the 21st Century

Free

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