Prenatal Testing for Disability and Parental Responsibility

This project would address several questions concerning parental rights and responsibilities in forming families and the morality of using genetic technology to prevent or create children with impairments: 1) Are genetic impairments subject to greater concern than other alleged sources of harm to future children? If so, is that greater concern justified? 2) Do public attitudes, practices, and policies toward reproductive conduct take account of whether that conduct affects the identity of the future child? Should they? 3) Can we reconcile our attitudes, practices, and policies toward: a/ the use of genetic technologies to select allegedly harmful genetic features or the failure or refusal to select against those features; b/ the use of those technologies to select "positive" or desired genetic features; c/ the use of reproductive technologies that create children with unclear lineages and unconventional family structures; d/ the risk of harm to future children arising from such activities by pregnant women as high-risk employment and heavy alcohol consumption; and e/ the risk of harm to existing children arising from deficient, neglectful, or abusive parenting. In addressing these questions, the investigators would employ conceptual and ethical analysis, informed by a close review of the relevant empirical and policy literatures.