Defending the Genetic Supermarket: The Law

The controversial topic of the technology of Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, and the muddled approach to this subject adopted by the UK Parliament, is explored in detail in this volume. The author takes the viewpoint that the HFEA has taken insufficient notice to date of certain core ethical principles and makes the case for a much more ethically consistent and humane system than has been managed so far. Arguing that many of the fears and objections levied against Robert Nozick?s notion of the ?Genetic Supermarket? by disability activists, christian bioethicists and radical feminists, amongst others, are internally inconsistent, philosophically unsound or merely highly improbable, the author considers a number of individual policy decisions of the HFEA and addresses such questions as: Can a case be made out for state involvement in such decisions? Who stands to be harmed by a supermarket model? Are any ethical principles or societal interests threatenedby it? This book is an essential resource for law students of all levels and professionals working within or interested in medical and healthcare law and medical genetics.

Colin Gavaghan is a lecturer in medical law and ethics at the School of Law in the University of Glasgow.

Acknowledgements	p. ix
The attack on the genetic supermarket	p. 1
How much 'design' is possible?	p. 5
Autonomy and germinal choice	p. 11
The intrinsic value of autonomy	p. 13
Autonomy and utilitarianism	p. 16
The interest in reproductive liberty	p. 18
The presumption of choice	p. 23
A 'silent closing'?	p. 23
The competitive imperative	p. 31
The Harm Principle	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 39
Children of the genetic supermarket	p. 41
The nature of harm	p. 42
'Harm' defined	p. 47
Taking an interest and having an interest	p. 49
Harms and wrongs	p. 51
Potential lives or discarded cells?	p. 54
'Withering on the vine': those who might have been	p. 60
Potential persons: those actually born	p. 63
Possible harms to future people	p. 65
Impossible alternatives: Derek Parfit and the Non-Identity Principle	p. 71
'Harmful' choices	p. 74
Voices of dissent: Person-Affecting objections	p. 77
The 'No Trade Offs' view	p. 77
The 'Generic Child' view	p. 82
Person-Affecting objections: summary	p. 85
Non-Person-Affecting objections	p. 86
'Worse Than Non-existence' lives	p. 92
Children of the genetic supermarket: an overview	p. 99
Disability, gender and the threat to the already disadvantaged	p. 101
People with disabilities	p. 102
Disability-oriented objections to PGD	p. 103
Objective harms	p. 104
Creating a class of 'undeserving disabled'	p. 106
Subjective harms: causing disabled people to feel devalued	p. 109
The need for line-drawing?	p. 123
Sex selection	p. 128
Sex discrimination	p. 129
Demographic distortions	p. 133
Conclusion	p. 138
Saviour siblings and the 'means-ends' imperative	p. 141
The Hashmis: background	p. 142
The Select Committee on Science and Technology	p. 145
The case	p. 146
Welfare of the unborn child	p. 151
Treating the child as an end in itself	p. 155
The parental exception	p. 160
The Whitaker case: an arbitrary distinction?	p. 162
The Authority's volte, face	p. 166
Justice and the genetic supermarket	p. 171
'Lower-class' diseases	p. 173
'Silver spoons' and 'golden genes'	p. 178
What does justice require?	p. 180
The 'so what?' model	p. 181
The 'lottery ticket' model	p. 182
Egalitarian models of justice	p. 184
A subsidised supermarket	p. 188
Alternative egalitarian strategies	p. 192
Immoral priorities	p. 197
'Irresponsible reproduction'	p. 200
Defending the genetic supermarket	p. 207
Afterword: a frank admission	p. 217
Bibliography	p. 223
Index	p. 233
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Defending the Genetic Supermarket: The Law and Ethics of Selecting the Next Generation

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