In Vitro Fertilization Controversy
Social Security Benefits and Posthumous Parenthood
When Congress passed and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935, their goal was to construct a social safety net for the elderly and the disabled supported by payroll deductions that fund future benefits. Four years later, Congress expanded the program to include payments to the families, including children, of deceased wage-earners. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case that the creators of Social Security could not possibly have envisioned. Thanks to advances in reproductive medicine in the last few decades, it is possible for an individual to be the biological parent of children…
