Ethics: Beginning of Life Flashcards
What aspects should be considered in terms of the welfare of a potential child?
- Is treatment conditional into the welfare of a potential child?
- Predicting well being of a future person
- Criteria for fostering and adoption
Who should be parents? Concider aspects
- Reproductive rights and responsibilities
- Do clinicians have the right to asses potential parents
- Fertility paradox: regulation, access and equity
- Autonomy vs non-malefeasence
What are the assisted reproduction techniques up to date?
- Artificial insemination
- INF
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
- Preimoplantatuin
- Genetic testing
What is the remit of assisted reproduction?
Should we choose our children?What are the questions to concider
- Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
- Screening for delayed onset conditions
- Sex selection for family balancing
- Seeking disability (deafness and achondroplasia)
- Saviour baby - conditional creation
- Routine pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidies
What is the status of the embryo and fetus?
How important is maternal autonomy during pregnancy?
What are the opportunities and benefits of assisted reproduction?
- Treatment of infertility
- Single and same-sex parents
- Prevention of inherited conditions
- Fertility prevention
What are the risks of assisted reproduction?
- Sex selection
- “Designer babies”: choosing the desired characteristics for the child
- The reproduction industry: monetary benefits for industry
Define infertility
Ambiguous definition
- Absolute barriers to conception (physical)
- Relative barriers to conception (social, time period over which couple was unable to conceive)
What are the arguments for sex selection?
- Selection of male embryos over female embryos in certain countries (undermines the status of women, gender imbalance)
What is social egg freezing? Pros and Cons
Pros
- Distinct from egg freezing for medical reasons (eg cancer survivors undergoing chemo, age-related reduction in ovarian reserve)
- The technology available to assist
Cons
- Provides greater reproductive control
- Financial implications
- Not a medical need
What are some commercial considerations for assisted reproduction?
- Commercialisation of reproduction
- Reproductive tourism (can outsource from other countries)
- Sourcing donor gametes
Abortions, pros and cons
Pros:
- Acknowledges sexual and reproductive rights of women
- Unwanted pregnanciy can harm physical and mental health
- Wanted children thrive
- Safe abortions saves lives globally
- A potential human is not a child
Cons
- Denial of rights of embryo/fetus
- Eliminating potential for life
What are some ethical questions linked to pre-natal screening
- Which conditiosn should be tested for
Whose decision is it to screen
