I've been hesitant to wade into the "Octomom" waters, but here's a reminder from the U.K. that if we had universal health care, we'd likely be living in a climate of far greater regulation of reproductive medicine: The British government is lifting a ban on in vitro fertilization for overweight women, smokers, and younger women. But it will continue to advise clinics to limit each woman to three IVF cycles. I expect that upcoming debates over American health care reform will include a fair amount of hand-wringing and stalling from the right over these "culture war" issues. Abortion, cloning, IVF -- we'll hear about all of it. So it's interesting to see that in England, IVF is being simultaneously limited (in terms of number of procedures) and encouraged (in terms of expanding the number of women who are eligible). --Dana Goldstein
