Failures of Imagination: Disability and the Ethics of Selective Reproduction

The article addresses the problem of disability in the context of reproductive decisions based on genetic information. It poses the question of whether selective procreation should be considered as a moral obligation of prospective parents. To answer this question, a number of different ethical appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Soniewicka, Marta 1980- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2015]
In: Bioethics
Year: 2015, Volume: 29, Issue: 8, Pages: 557-563
IxTheo Classification:NCH Medical ethics
Further subjects:B Disability
B Singer
B reproductive genetics
B genetic selection
B Savulescu
B disability rights critique
B Recognition
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The article addresses the problem of disability in the context of reproductive decisions based on genetic information. It poses the question of whether selective procreation should be considered as a moral obligation of prospective parents. To answer this question, a number of different ethical approaches to the problem are presented and critically analysed: the utilitarian; Julian Savulescu's principle of procreative beneficence; the rights-based. The main thesis of the article is that these approaches fail to provide any appealing principles on which reproductive decisions should be based. They constitute failures of imagination which may result in counter-intuitive moral judgments about both life with disability and genetic selection. A full appreciation of the ethical significance of recognition in procreative decisions leads to a more nuanced and morally satisfying view than other leading alternatives presented in the article.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12153