Lau Pin Lean
Brunel Law School, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK.
BioTech (Basel). 2023 Jul 11;12(3):51. doi: 10.3390/biotech12030051.
This article extends an exploration into renewed ethico-legal perspectives of genome editing technologies, examined from an evolved conceptualization of eugenics in contemporary human reproduction. Whilst the ethico-legal conundrums presented by genome-editing technologies in various aspects of modern medicine have thus far inspired a comprehensive trove of academic scholarship-and notwithstanding the World Health Organization's (WHO) publication of guidelines on human genome editing in 2021-the legislative landscape for these technologies remain relatively unchanged. Accordingly, this paper presents the unresolved problematic questions that still require significant reflection. First, the paper highlights these questions, which primarily center around the tension between reproductive autonomy and the legal governance of reproductive/genome editing technologies by a democratic state. Secondly, the paper interrogates the evolved conceptualization of eugenics, exercised on the part of prospective parents as part of reproductive autonomy. By this, the paper predicates that it indirectly reinforces societal and systemic problems of discrimination and "othering", increasing reproductive inequalities in excluded communities. Thirdly, the paper attempts to offer narratives of intersectionality as a facilitating tool in a continuing dialogue to build belonging, foster a healthy and balanced exercise of reproductive autonomy, and increase reproductive equalities.
本文拓展了对基因编辑技术新的伦理法律视角的探讨，这一探讨是从当代人类生殖中优生学概念的演变来审视的。尽管基因编辑技术在现代医学各个方面所呈现的伦理法律难题，迄今为止激发了大量丰富的学术研究成果——而且尽管世界卫生组织（WHO）在2021年发布了人类基因编辑指南——但这些技术的立法状况仍相对未变。因此，本文提出了仍需深入思考的未解决的问题。首先，本文强调了这些问题，它们主要围绕生殖自主权与民主国家对生殖/基因编辑技术的法律治理之间的紧张关系。其次，本文审视了优生学概念的演变，这是准父母作为生殖自主权一部分所践行的。据此，本文断定这间接强化了社会和系统性的歧视及“他者化”问题，加剧了被排斥群体中的生殖不平等。第三，本文试图提供交叉性的叙述，作为一种促进工具，以便在持续对话中建立归属感，促进健康、平衡地行使生殖自主权，并增强生殖平等。
