Anomaly Jonathan
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Monash Bioeth Rev. 2018 Jul;35(1-4):24-35. doi: 10.1007/s40592-018-0081-2.
For most of human history children have been a byproduct of sex rather than a conscious choice by parents to create people with traits that they care about. As our understanding of genetics advances along with our ability to control reproduction and manipulate genes, prospective parents have stronger moral reasons to consider how their choices are likely to affect their children, and how their children are likely to affect other people. With the advent of cheap and effective contraception, and the emergence of new technologies for in vitro fertilization, embryo selection, and genetic engineering, it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify rolling the genetic dice by having children without thinking about the traits they will have. It is time to face up to the awesome responsibilities that accompany our reproductive choices.
在人类历史的大部分时间里，孩子都是性行为的副产品，而非父母有意识地选择生育出具有他们所看重特质的人。随着我们对遗传学的理解不断进步，以及我们控制生育和操纵基因能力的提升，准父母们有了更强的道德理由去思考他们的选择可能如何影响自己的孩子，以及他们的孩子可能如何影响他人。随着廉价且有效的避孕措施的出现，以及体外受精、胚胎选择和基因工程等新技术的诞生，毫无顾忌地生育孩子而不考虑他们将会拥有的特质变得越来越难以自圆其说。是时候直面我们生殖选择所带来的重大责任了。
