Reproductive autonomy in the context of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
Discuss the extent to which the law does, and the extent to which it should, allow reproductive autonomy in the context of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis?
“Generally people can choose whether to have a child. In the light of developments in prenatal screening and diagnosis (PND) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), to some degree people can also make choices about what kind of child they might have, particularly whether they give birth to one with a serious impairment, disease or disorder. With advances in genetics, the range of possible choices will grow.
Morally acceptable and legally permissible
However to what extent any given choice would be morally acceptable and legally permissible, either in relation to selective abortion or when embryos are to be created and tested by PGD, is a sharply contested question.” (Rosamund Scott, Choosing Between Possible Lives. Law and Ethics of Prenatal and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis. Oxford and Portland: Hart publishing, 2007) Discuss the extent to which the law does, and the extent to which it should, allow reproductive autonomy in the context of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis?
Emphasise that this is a piece of research
Required to write an extended essay involving independent research. ” Emphasise that this is a piece of research coursework. The responsibility to undertake and plan your research, adding lots of sources, such as Journals, articles and case law ” Demonstrated effective legal research into the relevant law using primary and secondary sources where necessary. ” Set out clearly the relevant current law; ” Engaged in a critical appraisal of the law; ” Explored the moral and ethical issues raised; ” Demonstrated sophisticated reasoning skills with the logical progression of ideas; ” Show evidence of good use of communication skills including the use of clear and coherent written style and the good use of the English language, particularly spelling, grammar and syntax; “
Julian Savulescu designer baby
Referenced work correctly and included a full bibliography. Ideally use website to extract sources from Westlaw, Lawtel Justcite. In the UK, therefore UK Law A material called summary of cw session, please go through it, and the materials, I did type up a bit of the recording for the podcast by Julian Savulescu designer baby, Could you also read the review on the Stephen Wilkinson book, and bare in mind that: Some guidance/pointers we discussed in class. 1. Choice of articles – you need to be reading some “heavy-weight” articles – those in the peer reviewed journals such as Medical Law review. You must demonstrate in your essay that you have engaged with the academic debate and this means that you have identified and read some of the key writers.
Stephen Wilkinson’s article
For those of you who have not already done so – make sure that you read Stephen Wilkinson’s article that the essay quotation is taken from and Rosamunde Scott’s article Scott R, Choosing between Possible lives: legal and ethical issues in preimplantation genetic diagnosis, (2006) 26(1) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 153-178. 2. You will notice Savulescu crops up a lot – he has developed the principle of Procreative Beneficence which we discussed in class. Other writers – such as John Harris have similar views. You may well not agree with these views but you cannot ignore them so you will need to deal with them.
Many academics see these ideas as a form of new eugenics so you should not have any difficulty in finding counter-arguments. You listened to Savulescu as a podcast – you can easily find articles written by him (I have posted one on Moodle) 3. Draw yourself a diagram/mind map of key ideas or issues (e.g. eugenics argument, disability argument) and then add to this as you read more.
Possible structure
4. We discussed a possible structure for your essays. You might like to state your position in the introduction ( e.g. in favour of total reproductive autonomy so long as it does not cause harm/in favour of PGD to screen out serious diseases etc.), then develop that position explaining the reasons why you take that position, then anticipate and address the counter arguments. This way you are developing an argument and persuading the reader. This is a far more sophisticated approach than simply summarising all the arguments “for” and “against.” We will being doing more on this later.
Do not forget to print of the PDF version of articles – that way you can refer to the correct page number when referencing. 5. Read the abstract, then introduction, then the conclusion to gauge how relevant the article is – and then the middle. Do not get bogged down in an article that focuses on one tiny aspect and get lost in the detail. Keep your essay title with you at all times to keep your focus. 6. Be aware of the date of the article. The law or scientific developments might be out of date but the ethical arguments do not change. 7. Do not forget to download the PDF version of the article – this has the relevant page numbers. All UK material Please use ‘Westlaw UK’, ‘Lexislibrary’, ‘Lawtel’ these are the suitable online databases for cases, journals articles recommended to us by the university. This is a Third-year essay for University Level
