Can a Baby Have 3 or More Parents?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/opinion/26tues3.html?scp=1&sq=baby&st=cse

Scientists have now created baby monkeys with a father and 2 mothers. Researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center were looking into ways to eliminate diseases that can be inherited through maternal DNA. Defective DNA from the egg was removed and replaced with genetic material from another female's egg. The researchers say that this procedure is likely to work on humans as well, resulting in a baby with 3 biological parents, or "fractional parents".

The law is already not clearly defined on the subject of parenthood. The increased use of surrogates has brought up many questions and disputes. Some states have laws expressly permitting surrogate parenthood, others make it illegal, and others have no law at all. Janet Dolgin, a Hofstra Law School professor, wrote in the Akron Law Review that the problem is that legal thinking is deeply divided over how to judge what makes a family.

If the day comes when 3 or more people combine their DNA to create a baby, there will have to be some changes in the law. Technology is changing what it means to be a parent, and the courts are having a hard time keeping up. Judges and legal thinkers have to decide what are the important values.