From chance to responsibility: reproductive freedom and the obligation to genetically engineer your child

Abstract

Currently our assessment of whether someone is a good parent depends on the environmental inputs (or lack of such inputs) they give their children. But new genetic intervention technologies, to which we may soon have access, mean that how good a parent is will depend also on the genetic inputs they give their children. Each new piece of available technology threatens to open up another way in which we can neglect our children. Our obligations to our children and our susceptibilities to corresponding legal and moral sanctions may be about to explosively increase. This essay argues that we should treat conventional cases of neglect and cases of failing to use genetic intervention technologies to prevent serious diseases and disabilities morally consistently. I conclude that parents have a moral obligation to use safe and effective genetic treatments to prevent serious disabilities. I also discuss the circumstances in which parents ought to be legally obliged to use genetic treatments on their children. My particular focus is on prenatal interventions and their impact of the bodily integrity of expectant mothers. I conclude that although bodily integrity provides a serious constraint on moral obligations, it may be outweighed or overridden in a range of cases.