Social Justice, Assisted Reproductive Technologies and responsibility for infertility
John McMillan (Flinders University)

April 20, 2012, 3:15pm - 5:15pm
Philosophy & Bioethics Departments, Monash University

Philosophy Department Library (Room 916, Bldg. 11, Menzies West)
55 Wellington Rd
Melbourne 3800
Australia

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University of Alabama, Birmingham

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[Note: co-authored w/ Sheryl De Lacey (Flinders), but not present.] Abstract: The legislation that regulates the provision of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Australia requires that account should be taken of the suitability and skills of prospective parents. This means that those who need technical assistance for procreation have to be vetted in a way that those who do not need assistance will not be. Those who need assistance with procreation ordinarily have this need as a result of misfortune and therefore, should not be considered responsible for the fact that they need assistance. So, on the face of it, the legislative frameworks that regulate the provision of ARTs unfairly discriminate against those who need procreative assistance. Jackson (2002) has argued that this is an invasion of privacy and unfair. Lafollette (1980) argued that the way we vet adoptive parents is inconsistent with the way that we permit those who can reproducewithout assistance do so without any consideration to their suitability as parents. He claims that either we should vet and license all parents or it is unfair to do so for those who wish to adopt. This line of thought might be applied to assisted reproduction and taken to imply that we should screen all parents in the same way that we screen those who need procreative assistance. However, we think there are some relevant differences between assisted and unassisted procreation, for instance the fact that those assisting the provision of such services provide the means by which this is possible and thereby assume some responsibility for this procreative endeavour. We will argue that the ability of prospective parents should only become relevant when there are serious and known concerns about the suitability of parents.

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