Reproductive Justice, Health & Rights
Advocates for reproductive health, rights, and justice are increasingly aware of the safety and social risks of assisted reproductive technologies and other human biotechnologies, particularly for women and children.
While assisted reproduction has helped many people create families, the long-term risks of these technologies – particularly those that require egg provision – are grossly understudied. In the U.S., assisted reproduction has developed almost entirely in the commercial sector and is notoriously underregulated.
Heritable genome editing, if allowed, would develop in this same commercial sector. Reproductive justice advocates draw attention to the risks to women and children’s health and wellbeing, the historical context of population control and reproductive oppression, and the likelihood that it would exacerbate reproductive, racial, and disability injustice.
Aggregated News
Photo from Belly of the Beast, used by permission
Yesterday, California became the third state in the nation to...
Published September 26, 2023
Emily Galpern speaks at the Black Women for Wellness Reproductive Justice Conference in August 2023 about deep disparities between the people most directly affected by state control of reproduction and those with privilege who can access privatized, high-cost fertility services to form their families.
February 8, 2022
A genetic disease runs in your family. Your doctor tells you that, should you wish to have a child, that child is likely to also carry the disease. But a new gene-editing technology could change your fate. It could ensure that your baby is -- and remains -- healthy. Even more, it could potentially make sure your grandchildren are also free of the disease. What do you do? Now, imagine it's not a rare genetic disorder, but general illness, or eye color, or cognitive ability, or athleticism. Do you opt into this new world of genetically edited humans? And what if it's not just you. What your friends, neighbors, and colleagues are also embracing this genetic revolution? Right now, science doesn't give you that choice. But huge advancements in CRISPR technology are making human gene editing a reality. In fact, in 2018, a Chinese scientist announced the first genetically modified babies; twin girls made to resist HIV, smallpox, and malaria. The promise of this technology is clear. But gene editing is not without its perils. Its critics say the technology is destined to exacerbate inequality, pressure all parents (and nations) into editing their children to stay competitive, and meddling with the most basic aspect of our humanity. In this context, we ask the question: Should we use gene editing to make better babies?
FOR THE MOTION: Dr. George Church Professor of Genetics, Harvard and MIT & Founder, Personal Genome Project; Amy Webb Futurist & Author, "The Genesis Machine"
AGAINST THE MOTION: Marcy Darnovsky, Policy Advocate; Françoise Baylis, Philosopher