Kendal Evie
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Alfred Centre Level 5, 99 Commercial Rd, Melbourne, 3000, Australia.
J Bioeth Inq. 2017 Jun;14(2):185-194. doi: 10.1007/s11673-017-9775-z. Epub 2017 Feb 21.
This paper aims to address how artificial gestation might affect equality of opportunity for the unborn and any resultant generation of "ectogenetic" babies. It will first explore the current legal obstacles preventing the development of ectogenesis, before looking at the benefits of allowing this technology to control fetal growth and development. This will open up a discussion of the treatment/enhancement divide regarding the use of reproductive technologies, a topic featured in various bioethical debates on the subject. Using current maternity practices in Western society as a comparator, this paper will conclude that neither naturally nor artificially gestated fetuses have interests that can conflict with those of potential parents who might want to use this technology to control fetal development. Such control may include selective implantation of embryos of a desired gender, deliberate choice of genetic traits, or maintenance of an ideal incubation environment to avoid fetal damage. Objections on the basis of disability as well as concerns regarding eugenics will be addressed. The paper will conclude that none of these objections are compelling grounds to prevent the development and use of ectogenesis technologies for the purpose of achieving specific reproductive goals, particularly when compared to current practices in pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and selective abortion on the grounds of undesired traits. As such, when deciding whether to support ectogenesis research, the enduring interests of parents must be the primary consideration, with societal concerns regarding potential misuse the only valid secondary consideration.
本文旨在探讨人工妊娠可能如何影响未出生胎儿以及由此产生的任何一代“体外发育”婴儿的机会平等。本文将首先探讨当前阻碍体外发育技术发展的法律障碍，然后审视允许这项技术控制胎儿生长发育的益处。这将引发一场关于生殖技术使用中治疗/增强区分的讨论，这是该主题各种生物伦理辩论中的一个话题。以西方社会当前的孕产实践作为参照，本文将得出结论，无论是自然孕育还是人工孕育的胎儿，其利益都不会与那些可能希望利用这项技术控制胎儿发育的潜在父母的利益相冲突。这种控制可能包括选择性植入期望性别的胚胎、刻意选择基因特征，或维持理想的孕育环境以避免胎儿受损。基于残疾的反对意见以及对优生学的担忧将得到探讨。本文将得出结论，与当前基于不期望的特征进行植入前基因诊断和选择性堕胎的做法相比，这些反对意见都不是阻止为实现特定生殖目标而开发和使用体外发育技术的令人信服的理由。因此，在决定是否支持体外发育研究时，父母的长期利益必须是首要考虑因素，而社会对潜在滥用的担忧是唯一有效的次要考虑因素。
