Ethical Reflections On Eugenics And Ethical Inquiry Into Reproductive Genetic Technologies

Genetic research and the application of genetic knowledge play an important role in health improvement for both individuals and population. Reproductive genetic technologies, such as prenatal genetic diagnosis, prenatal genetic screening and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, contribute to individual and familial reproductive decisions. However, the application of these technologies have raised our concern about eugenic movement which developed in the first half of the 20th century. The eugenic movement was regarded as the first attempt of improving quality of offspring in human, and end up with deprivation of individual freedom, racism and Nazism. The application of genetic technologies in reproduction today may be regarded as the second try. So people now focus on how to avoid the mistakes of eugenics in history when we use those technologies on individual and population levels.Those concerns for eugenics are not without reason. We can find the traces of eugenics in nowadays laws and regulations in China, such as violation of reproductive freedom and injustice on health care distribution. Although the purpose of those laws and regulations is to improve the health of children, the procedural justice has not been guaranteed well. In addition, due to the lack of analysis in ethical issues of eugenics, and the misunderstanding of eugenics, it is harder to properly solve the ethical issues in application of reproductive genetic technologies. From ethical perspective, this paper tries to make a deep analysis of eugenic history in both western counties and China, to clarify the definition of eugenics, and develop a specific framework in order to ensure the genetics to play an important role in improving the health of our offspring while avoiding the repetition of horrible mistakes committed in the past.On the basis of detail exploration into the history of western countries and China, the ethical reflection on eugenics in history is made. This paper points out the core of eugenics is improving the quality of population by use or misuse of genetic knowledge. This conception is a generalization of eugenics in the history and in present, and also helpful to the discussion on eugenics. After analyzing the eugenic ideology in existing laws/regulations and textbooks and the application of reproductive genetic technologies, the paper identifies several ethical issues and dilemmas, and formulates an ethical framework for evaluating eugenics on the basis of examining existing ethical theories.This paper provides ethical arguments successively on three dimensions of reproductive freedom, justice and discriminations. First, it clarifies the importance of reproductive freedom in individual reproductive decisions and public health interventions, and the duty of parents on keeping child born healthy by introducing harm principle and child’s right to open future. Second, it demonstrates the importance of reproductive genetic technologies on keeping the health of offspring, then presents the significance of distributive justice in health care, and point outs that the application of those technologies in public health or populations does not necessarily make it eugenics. At last it responds to the criticism from disability rights activists, and puts forward that the purpose of application of reproductive genetic technologies is improving the health and welfare of individual or population, not discriminating against the disabled. Meanwhile, according to the principle of justice, it indicates that the society as a whole should give necessary support to those disabled people.Based on the analysis of those ethical issues, this paper provides some specific suggestions on practical problems. First, it makes advice on how to use eugenics both in Chinese and English contexts. Second, suggestions on amending the laws and regulations which contain violations of the right of marriage, involuntary sterilization and abortion, as well as discriminations are proposed. Third, focusing on the eugenic problems in textbooks of medical ethics and genetics, it gives suggestions on how to revise them.This paper hopes to strengthen the collaboration among scientists, bioethicists, sociologists and jurists, improve the development health care policies, and avoid the repetition of the practices of evil eugenics on the basis of analyzing the ethical dimension of eugenics and practical application of reproductive genetic technologies. From this perspective, under the premise of respecting reproductive freedom and justice, it can also help the application of genetics in reproduction, and improve the health and welfare for individual and population.