[Music]

before his death in california in 1991 a

man named william kane wrote a letter to

the children from his first marriage and

to his fiancee deborah

it read

i address this to my children because

although i have only two of you everett

and katie it may be that debra decides

as i hope she will

to have a child by me after my death i

have been assiduously generating sperm

samples for that eventuality

if she does then this letter is for my

posthumous offspring as well

with the thought that i have loved you

in my dreams even though i never got to

see you born

what happened after william kane's death

was a lawsuit that would forever change

the law

his ex-wife and adult children argued

that deborah should not be allowed to

use the sperm samples they should be

destroyed

and a trial court agreed with them

but deborah appealed

and a california appellate court agreed

with her

finding that william kane and all of us

have the right to use our dna after our

death even to have children

i'm sure everyone in this room has let

their loved ones know if they can use

their dna to have a kid after they die

right

okay probably not yet

but what happens if we don't tell anyone

if we don't write it down

and what happens when a couple creates

embryos together for use down the road

then divorces or eggs and sperm are

mixed up or an embryo transfer to the

wrong woman

because all of these things have

happened

thanks to advances in technology there

are more ways to try to have a baby

but the law has lagged behind and

because the law hasn't kept up with the

technology

it's hurting people

families trying to conceive donors and

surrogates trying to help them and the

children born into these wild situations

and one day could affect you or your

loved ones

i'm an attorney probably not surprising

by my knowledge of egg sperm and the law

i started my career in the investment

management group of a large

international firm forming hedge funds

at parties when asked what i did for a

living my answer was generally followed

by glances around the room for someone

more interesting to talk to

but that time i was surrounded by people

thinking about having babies from my

housemates who were a gay couple to my

sister and her husband struggling with

infertility

and i learned about assisted

reproductive technology law

i had the chance to read through an egg

donation agreement and it blew my mind

so many questions i had never thought of

what if an egg donor goes through a

single retrieval procedure and has 20

eggs retrieved

not a crazy number

could those eggs be donated to 20

different families

could each of those families have a

child genetically related to her

what about disclosure and future contact

would she know the children would the

children know each other

i was fascinated

way more interesting than hedge

funds but the law in this area will

leave your head spinning

even the definition of what is an embryo

is inconsistent and contradictory from

state to state

in louisiana an embryo is defined as a

juridical person

what's that

even the lawyers aren't really sure what

a juridical person is

but we do know that it means that

embryos stored in tanks and negative 321

degrees fahrenheit have the right to sue

people

and don't think they won't do it

last year celebrity actress sofia

vergara of modern family fame and my

favorite smurfs

was sued

by her embryos

she had gone through fertility treatment

with her ex-fiance nick loeb

when they were a couple

they had two remaining embryos from

their ivf process stored in a clinic in

los angeles

the consent forms they signed were clear

neither could use the embryos without

the other's consent

at this point vergara had moved on

married the actor from magic mike joe

manganiello

she did not want those embryos being

used

loeb on the hand was doing everything in

his power to win rights to the embryos

after losing in california court

he formed a trust for the embryos in

louisiana

he even named the embryos emma and

isabella and had them file a lawsuit

against fergara

demanding that they rebot be brought to

birth

ultimately the lawsuit was dismissed for

lack of jurisdiction meaning louisiana

wasn't the right place to hear the case

the embryos were in los angeles

california neither loeb nor vergara

lived in louisiana

but given louisiana's definition of

embryos as people it would have been

fascinating and concerning if the court

had been able to rule on the case

of course these were celebrities so we

got to read about their case in the news

but it could happen to anyone who's gone

through ivf

that's more than two million people per

year

worldwide

by contrast to the idea that embryos are

people

other laws and judges treat embryos as

property

in texas a probate judge was forced to

determine the legal properties of 11

embryos when a couple was murdered

leaving behind their embryos and

their two-year-old son

the judge determined that embryos have

value

and therefore property and should go to

the couple's heir

the two-year-old

to determine what to do with them when

he turned 18.

that's a heavy responsibility for an 18

year old

does he transfer them to a surrogate and

raise his genetic siblings

does he donate them to others

does he forget about them entirely

not likely that his parents were

thinking about these questions when they

formed those embryos

aside from struggling with the

definitions of eggs sperm embryos and

who can use them

the law especially struggles when there

are mix-ups in the lab

in 2018 a woman in new york pregnant

with twins was surprised at her

ultrasound appointment when her

obstetrician congratulated her on having

two boys

you see

she had gone through ivs in california

and there her embryos have been tested

and shown to be two female embryos

she called the clinic

but they said don't worry about it

ultrasounds are frequently inaccurate

you're having two girls

but she gave birth to two boys

and they didn't look like her or her

husband

they did genetic testing

she was not genetically related nor was

her husband

in fact

the twins weren't even related to each

other

across the country

a woman in california got a call from

her fertility clinic

it had been about nine months since

she'd gone through a failed embryo

transfer

she thought she was being asked to come

in for routine testing

but was met with a room full of doctors

lawyers mental health professionals that

told her

there had been a mistake

her embryo had been transferred to

another patient and her genetic son had

been born

in new york one of the twins

a judge in new york determined that the

birth parents were not the legal parents

the children instead

the woman in california and her husband

were legal parents to one of the twins

and another couple entirely were legal

parents to the other twin because they

were the genetic parents

but a similar thing happened in italy

with the exact opposite result their

two embryos were transferred to the

wrong patient and a judge determined

that the birth parents were the legal

parents the children

and the genetic parents

had no legal rights at all to their own

genetic children

it's time for the law to change

here in colorado

our lone egg and sperm donation statute

has the language a wife with her

husband's consent

it's a little offensive to us liberated

women

but also doesn't include single parents

by choice or lgbtq parents

it also doesn't include those who donate

their embryos or those who receive

embryos to have a child

what can we do besides advocating for

better laws

we can think carefully about our own

reproductive material

every adult knows that they should have

a will

even if they haven't done it yet

a will lets those we leave behind know

what to do with our assets and our

possessions

but most wills don't include an

invaluable asset

our reproductive material

and that leaves loved ones confused and

facing inconsistent laws

for instance

in 2019 a west point cadet named peter

zhu was in a tragic ski accident

his family begged the hospital and then

a judge to let them retrieve his sperm

they explained to the judge that their

son had always wanted to have children

and moreover it was a vital cultural

importance them to continue their family

line

the judge was persuaded

he issued the order to allow the sun's

sperm to be retrieved and later used for

conception purposes

but here in colorado

the law

is not the same

in the last few years at least twice

it's happened where a man was taken to

the hospital before his death and the

request by a spouse to have his sperm

retrieved was denied

because he didn't have a consent on file

with the hospital

but in another case where a man died

suddenly and was taken to the coroner

his spouse's request to have a sperm

retrieved was granted

because the coroner is not subject to

the same policies and procedures

as a hospital

so

if you think

you might allow

someone to have a child with your dna

after your death or you don't want them

to

tell them

write it down

grab a napkin put it on a napkin

send a text no matter how strange that

text may look

it happens more often than you think

we think more carefully about organ

donation

but this is just as important

i bet you didn't think you need to

include this in your will

the world has changed

the technology is here and it will only

keep advancing

and this isn't the only area where

technology is outpacing the law

we need to challenge ourselves to think

carefully about what these innovations

mean to ourselves

to our families to our children

and to future children

whether they're genetically related to

us or not

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

you

{{}}

[音乐]

1991 年在加利福尼亚去世前，一个

名叫威廉凯恩的男人

给他第一次婚姻的孩子

和他的未婚妻黛博拉写了一封信，

上面写着

我给我的孩子们写这封信，因为

虽然我只有你们两个人埃弗雷特

和凯蒂 可能是黛布拉决定，

因为我希望她会

在我死后生一个孩子

在我的梦里，即使我从未

见过你出生

，威廉凯恩死后发生的事情

是一场永远改变法律的诉讼，

他的前妻和成年子女争辩

说，不应该允许黛博拉

使用精子样本，他们应该被

销毁

初审法院同意他们的意见，

但黛博拉提出上诉

，加利福尼亚上诉法院

同意她的

裁决，即威廉凯恩和我们所有人

都有权在我们死后使用我们的 dna

甚至生孩子

我敢肯定这个房间里的每个人都让

他们的亲人知道他们是否可以

在他们死后使用他们的 dna 生孩子

好吧可能还没有

但如果我们不告诉任何人如果我们不告诉任何人会发生

什么 不要写下来

，当一对夫妇

一起创造胚胎以备

将来使用然后离婚或卵子和精子

混在一起或将胚胎移植给

错误的女人时

会发生什么，因为所有这些事情都

发生了，

这要归功于技术的进步

还有更多 尝试生孩子的方法，

但法律已经落后，并且

由于法律没有跟上

技术的发展，

它正在伤害人们

家庭试图怀孕的捐赠者和

代孕者试图帮助他们和

出生在这些狂野环境中的孩子

，有一天 可能会影响您或您

所爱的人

我是一名律师

我对卵子精子和法律的了解可能并不令人惊讶

我的职业生涯始于

一家大型国际公司的投资管理集团，

成立了对冲基金

在聚会上，当被问及我以什么

为生时，我的回答通常是

环顾房间，寻找

更有趣的人交谈，

但那次我周围的人都在

考虑从我的

室友那里生孩子，他们是我姐姐的同性恋夫妇

和她的丈夫与

不孕症作斗争

，我了解了辅助

生殖技术法，

我有机会阅读了一份卵子

捐赠协议，这让我

大吃一惊 有 20 个

卵子找回

不是一个疯狂的

数字 这些卵子是否可以捐赠给 20 个

不同的家庭

这些家庭是否每个家庭都有一个

与她有遗传关系的孩子

披露和未来的联系

她会知道孩子们 孩子们会

认识彼此吗

我很

着迷 比对冲基金更有趣，

但这个领域的法律

会让你头晕目眩，

甚至定义什么是 胚胎

在路易斯安那州的州与州之间不一致和矛盾 胚胎被定义为

法人

甚至律师也不确定什么

是法人，

但我们确实知道这意味着

胚胎储存在罐中和负 321

度 Fahrenheit 有权起诉

人们

并且认为他们不会去年这样做

名人女演员 sofia

vergara 现代家庭成名，我

最喜欢的蓝精灵

被她的胚胎起诉

她与前未婚夫 nick loeb 接受了生育治疗

当他们是一对夫妇时，

他们将体外受精过程中剩下的两个胚胎

储存在洛杉矶的一家诊所中，

他们签署的同意书很清楚

，未经对方同意，双方都不能使用胚胎

此时维加拉已经继续

与魔法麦克的演员结婚 joe

manganiello

她不希望那些胚胎被

使用

勒布在加州输掉

比赛后正在尽其所能赢得胚胎的权利

ifornia 法庭，

他为路易斯安那州的胚胎成立了一个信托基金，

他甚至将胚胎命名为 emma 和

isabella，并让他们

对

fergara 提起诉讼，要求他们重新

出生，

最终诉讼因缺乏管辖权而被驳回，

这意味着路易斯安那

州不是 审理此案的正确地点

胚胎在

加利福尼亚州洛杉矶 勒布和维加拉都没有

住在路易斯安那州，

但考虑到路易斯安那州对胚胎作为人的定义，

如果

法院能够就此案作出裁决，那将是令人着迷和令人担忧的

，当然这些是 名人所以我们

必须在新闻中阅读他们的案例，

但它可能发生在任何经历

过

体外受精的人身上，全世界每年有超过 200 万人

，这与胚胎是人的想法相反，

其他法律和法官

在德克萨斯州将胚胎视为财产 当一对夫妇被谋杀留下胚胎时，遗嘱认证法官被迫

确定 11 个胚胎的合法属性

ryos 和

他们两岁的

儿子法官认定胚胎是

有价值的

，因此是财产，应该

去找这对夫妇的

继承人 2 岁的孩子，

以决定在

他 18 岁时如何处理它们。

这是一个沉重的责任 18

岁 他是否将它们转移给代孕并

抚养他的遗传兄弟

姐妹 他是否将它们捐赠给其他

人 他是否完全忘记了

它们 他的父母在形成这些胚胎时不太可能在

考虑这些问题

除了与

卵子的定义作斗争

2018 年，一名怀有双胞胎的纽约妇女对

她的超声检查感到惊讶，

因为她的

产科医生祝贺她生了

两个男孩，

你看到

她已经走了。 通过在加利福尼亚的ivs

，她的胚胎已经过测试

，结果显示是两个女性胚胎，

她打电话给诊所，

但他们说不用担心。

测量结果经常不准确

你有两个女孩，

但她生了两个男孩

，他们看起来不像她或她的

丈夫

他们做了基因测试

她没有基因相关，

她的丈夫也没有

，事实上

这对双胞胎甚至没有血缘关系

加利福尼亚州的一名妇女在全国范围内接到了

她生育诊所的电话

，自从

她经历了一次失败的胚胎移植以来已经过去了大约九个月，

她认为她被要求

进行常规检查，

但遇到了一个 满屋子的医生

律师 心理健康专家

告诉她

，

她的胚胎被转移给了

另一个病人，而她的遗传儿子

在纽约出生，其中一对双胞胎中

的一个 纽约的一名法官认定，她的

亲生父母不是 孩子的合法

父母，而不是

加利福尼亚州的妇女和她的丈夫

是其中一对双胞胎的合法父母，

而另一对夫妇完全是另一对

双胞胎的合法父母，因为t 嘿

是遗传父母，

但在意大利发生了类似的事情，

结果完全相反，他们的

两个胚胎被转移给了

错误的病人，法官

判定亲生父母是孩子的合法

父母，

而遗传父母

根本没有合法权利 对他们自己的

遗传孩子

来说，是时候

改变科罗拉多州的法律了，

我们的单身卵子和精子捐赠

法规的语言是在

丈夫同意的情况下

成为妻子，这对我们解放的女性来说有点冒犯，

但也不包括

选择的单亲父母或 lgbtq 父母

它也不包括

那些捐赠胚胎或接受

胚胎生孩子的

人 除了提倡

更好的法律

我们还能做什么 我们可以仔细考虑我们自己的

生殖材料

每个成年人都知道他们应该有

一个

意志 如果他们还没有这样做，

那么遗嘱会让我们留下的人

知道如何处理我们的资产和

财产，

但大多数遗嘱都不知道 包括我们的生殖材料的

宝贵资产

，这让亲人感到困惑并

面临不一致的法律

，

例如 2019 年，一位名叫朱彼得的西点军校学员

发生了一场悲惨的滑雪事故，

他的家人请求医院

和法官让他们取回他的精子。

向法官解释说，他们的

儿子一直想生孩子

，此外，延续家族血统对他们具有至关重要的文化

意义。

法官被说服

他发布了命令，允许取回太阳的

精子，然后用于

受孕目的，

但 在科罗拉多

州，过去

几年的法律至少有两次

不一样了

同意在医院存档，

但在另一种情况下，一名男子突然死亡

并被带到验尸官，

他的配偶要求

取回精子

因为验尸官不受

与医院相同的政策和程序的约束，

所以

如果您认为

您可能允许

某人在您死后用您的 dna 生孩子，

或者您不想让他们

告诉他们

写下来，请

拿 餐巾纸 把它放在餐巾纸上

发送一个文本 不管这个文本看起来多么奇怪

它发生的频率比你想象的要多

我们对器官捐赠的考虑更仔细，

但这同样重要，

我打赌你认为你不需要把它

包括在 你的

意志世界已经改变

了技术就在这里，它只会

不断进步

，这不是唯一一个

技术超越法律的领域，

我们需要挑战自己，

仔细思考这些创新

对我们自己

对我们的家庭对我们的意义 孩子

和未来的孩子，

不管他们是否与我们

有血缘关系，谢谢你们[鼓掌]

[音乐]

你们