Octuplet Mom and the Legal Debate Was Topic of Panel Discussion Held at Capital University Law School

March 23, 2009

What are the hot legal issues surrounding unemployed octuplet mom Nadya Suleman and her obsession with having a seventh child through invitro fertilization that resulted in the premature birth of eight babies? Capital University Law School's panel of experts, Susan Looper Friedman, Lance Tibbles and Angela Upchurch, discussed the implications of this case for child welfare and bio-ethics law, as well as for reproductive and paternity rights at a faculty/student hot topic discussion on Wed., March 18.

Professor Susan Looper-Friedman has published articles in the areas of reproductive rights, domestic violence, and property theory, including Keep Your Laws Off My Body!: Abortion Regulation and the Takings Clause, 29 New England Law Review 253 (1995).  She teaches a seminar on Women and the Law, as well as courses in property law, jurisprudence, and decedents’ estates.  She serves on the state board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and is a frequent public speaker on civil liberty issues.

Professor Lance Tibbles is an authority on health law issues and legal ethics. He has written extensively in the biomedical ethics areas of reproductive rights, informed consent, definition of death, refusing life-prolonging treatment, and human experimentation. He teaches professional responsibility, health law, and bioethics law. He directs the Ethics Institute at Capital, chairs Capital University's Research Review Committee, and serves on the Professional Ethics and Grievance Committee of the Columbus Bar Association.

Professor Angela Upchurch is the Real Living Academic Director of the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital. In this capacity, she teaches the only regularly offered Adoption Law course in the nation. She is the author of A Postmodern Deconstruction of Frozen Embryo Disputes, 39 Conn. L. Rev. (2007); The Deep Freeze: A Critical Examination of the Resolution of Frozen Embryo Disputes Through the Adversarial Process, 33 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 395 (2005), and she is a contributing author of the book, ABA Center on Children and the Law, A Judge's Guide: Making Child-Centered Decisions in Custody Cases (2001).