Human Germline Manipuation and Cloning as Women's Issues
By Marcy Darnovsky,
GeneWatch
| 06. 30. 2001
While the prospect of genetically "redesigned" people challenges humanity as a whole, it particularly threatens groups that historically have been disempowered. And because human germline engineering and cloning are so closely tied to reproduction, they are of special concern to women.
The New Eugenics and the Commercialization of Reproduction
Already, prenatal screening and preimplantation diagnosis make it possible to eliminate fetuses and embryos with a number of identifiable genetic conditions. As disability rights activists point out, these developments put women in the position of "eugenic gatekeepers." Inheritable genetic modification, to whatever extent it turns out to be technically possible, would amplify the powers of eugenic selection many times over.
If a new "free-market eugenics" were to take hold, who would actually exercise "consumer preference" for genetic "enhancements?" Who would decide what was on offer?
Human cloning and germline engineering would move decisions about reproduction further away from women, not only toward doctors and technicians but also toward marketers proffering the "enhancements" developed by biotech companies. Women could find themselves simultaneously losing ever more control of their own childbearing experiences, and...
Related Articles
Not the species, certainly, but the Institute of that name, which was founded by transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2005 as a research group at Oxford University. According to a recently posted Final Report, its goal was “to pursue the big questions in a transdisciplinary way” by pulling together “researchers from disciplines such as philosophy, computer science, mathematics, and economics.” This evolved before long into the study and promotion of “effective altruism” and “longtermism” as...
By Yelena Biberman and Jonathan D. Moreno, Bioethics Forum | 04.16.2024
A quiet biological revolution in warfare is underway. The genome is emerging as a new domain of conflict. The level of destruction that only nuclear weapons could previously achieve is fast becoming as accessible as a cyberattack.
Now for the...
By Tristan Manalac, BioSpace | 04.02.2024
Verve Therapeutics has suspended enrollment in the Phase Ib Heart-1 study evaluating its lead gene editing program VERVE-101 following a serious adverse event, the company announced Tuesday.
A patient, who received a 0.45-mg/kg dose of VERVE-101, developed a grade 3...
By Timnit Gebru and Émile P. Torres, First Monday | 04.14.2024
The stated goal of many organizations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), an imagined system with more intelligence than anything we have ever seen. Without seriously questioning whether such a system can...