Human Germline Manipuation and Cloning as Women's Issues

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...