The Fate of the Unborn under Connecticut's Anatomical Gift Act
![handle is hein.journals/qlr13 and id is 81 raw text is: THE FATE OF THE UNBORN UNDER CONNECTICUT'S ANATOMICAL
GIFT ACT
I. INTRODUCTION
In a research laboratory at Yale Medical Center, Dr. Mrinal
Sanyal and his team of researchers are in the process of geneti-
cally diagnosing a four-cell embryo.1 A couple that has a high
risk of conceiving a genetically defective embryo' donates an
ovum from the mother which is artificially inseminated with
sperm contributed by the father.8 The new life grows into a four-
cell entity in an incubator which provides the necessary simu-
lated conditions of the uterus.4 At this embryonic stage, the
team of investigators examines the embryo under a highly so-
phisticated laser microscope and then removes one cell from the
four-cell embryo.5
Together with advanced microscopes and sensitive equip-
ment that detect specific genes, the research team can screen
this individual cell for genetic disorders.6 If the cell is genetically
normal, the team transplants the remaining three-cell embryo
into the mother. If the cell is genetically defective, the parents
have the choice of discarding the embryo or transplanting it into
1. Interview with Dr. Mrinal Sanyal, Research Scientist of Obstetrics and Gynecol-
ogy Department at Yale Medical School, in New Haven, Connecticut (Oct. 10, 1990)
[hereinafter Sanyal Interview].
2. Id. Private physicians refer patients with a history of conceiving genetically de-
fective fetuses to Dr. Sanyal. Id.
3. John A. Robertson, In the Beginning: The Legal Status of Early Embryos, 76
VA. L. REv. 437, 440 (1990) [hereinafter Legal Status]. This process is called in vitro
fertilization (IVF) because an ovum is fertilized by sperm outside the uterus in a dish
('in vitro'). Id.
4. Sanyal Interview, supra note 1. A four-cell embryo is approximately 48 hours
old. Id.
5. Id. See generally Legal Status, supra note 3 (explaining preimplantation genetic
screening procedure of embryo).
6. Legal Status, supra note 3, at 507-09.
7. Id. After the embryo biopsy, the remaining three cells would ordinarily be fro-
zen (cryopreserved) until implantation into the uterus. Id. at 507. What defines normal
in this context is whether the embryonic cell has a sex-linked genetic disease. See Sanyal
Interview, supra note 1. The researchers, however, can also determine every trait the
fetus will develop including such things as height, hair color and susceptibilities to can-
cer. Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/qlr13&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Fate of the Unborn under Connecticut's Anatomical Gift Act
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