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Failures of Imagination: Disability and the Ethics of Selective Reproduction
Author(s) -
Soniewicka Marta
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/bioe.12153
Subject(s) - beneficence , reproduction , context (archaeology) , obligation , bioethics , psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , moral obligation , social psychology , environmental ethics , epistemology , sociology , autonomy , law , philosophy , computer science , political science , ecology , paleontology , artificial intelligence , biology
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; J ulian S avulescu'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.