Genetic Selection
Genetic testing increasingly informs decisions about whether to continue a pregnancy (prenatal genetic testing) or which IVF embryo to implant (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis). Genetic selection techniques allow parents at risk of transmitting serious genetic conditions to have unaffected and genetically related children.
But what counts as “serious” is controversial, and our perceptions of which conditions should be prevented are socially constructed and change over time. Disability rights advocates point out that when prenatal screening identifies a fetus with Down syndrome, this often results in terminating the pregnancy, even though people with Down syndrome often thrive and live happily.
Driven by genetic testing companies, prenatal genetic screening has expanded rapidly to include a wide range of conditions. There are also new companies that “rank” IVF embryos according to their future risk of conditions like cancer, heart disease, or schizophrenia – a scientifically and ethically questionable practice.
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Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash
Every few weeks or so, Grete Fält-Hansen gets a call from a stranger asking a...
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In 2011, poet and writer George Estreich wrote about the impact of biotechnology on family life in his first book, ...
Published March 31, 2023
The third panel in CGS' Missing Voices Initiative webinar series, this roundtable conversation explored the perilous prospect of reproductive uses of human genome editing from the perspective of feminist and reproductive justice scholars and advocates. Their intersectional analyses illuminated concerns related to eugenics and the rapidly expanding global fertility industry. Speakers were Kavita Ramdas, Alana Cattapan, and Amrita Pande, and the panel was moderated by Susan Berke Fogel.
Find more information about the panel's speakers here: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/in...
Learn more about CGS' Missing Voices Initiative here: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/in...
This two-part online CGS event centers social justice and human rights, presenting voices and perspectives from feminist, disability rights, reproductive rights and justice, racial justice, environmental, and human rights movements and scholars, who question whether heritable genome editing has any place in a fair and inclusive future. Part one took place on February 27, 2023 and features CGS Executive Director Marcy Darnovsky discussing history and context of the Summit process, followed by Dorothy Roberts, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, George Annas and Silvia Yee (moderator) in conversation to discuss the social justice case against heritable genome editing.
Rosemarie Garland-Thompson discusses "Biomedical Ethics and the Existential Threat to Persons with Disabilities" at the Columbia Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
George Estreich discusses his most recent book Fables and Futures, inspired by his daughter Laura. Estreich goes beyond the personal to describe the ways that genetic technologies affect society and the stories the promoters of such technologies tell about them. The event took place on May 1, 2019 at the San Francisco Public Library.
While embryo selection and gene editing technologies may offer great hope to couples looking to prevent hereditary disease or improve fertility. The debate over these technologies has reignited concerns that we are closer to slipping down the slope to designer babies than ever before. Are these fears warranted…or overblown?