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Beneficence, determinism and justice: an engagement with the argument for the genetic selection of intelligence.

In 2001, Julian Savulescu wrote an article entitled 'Procreative Beneficence: Why We Should Select the Best Children', in which he argued for the genetic selection of intelligence in children. That article contributes to a debate on whether genetic research on intelligence should be undertaken at all and, if so, should intelligence selection be available to potential parents. As such, the question of intelligence selection relates to wider issues concerning the genetic determinism of behavioural traits, i.e. alcoholism. This article is designed as an engagement in the intelligence selection debate using an analysis of Savulescu's arguments to raise a series of problematic issues in relation to the ethics of parental selection of intelligence. These problematic issues relate to wider assumptions that are made in order to put forward intelligence selection as a viable ethical option. Such assumptions are more generic in character, but still relate to Savulescu's article, concerning issues of genetic determinism, private allocation and inequality, and, finally, individual versus aggregate justice. The conclusion focuses on what the implications are for the question of agency, especially if intelligence selection is allowed.

Beneficence↗

Joy to the world! A (healthy) child is born! Reconceptualizing 'harm' in wrongful conception.

The wrongful conception action holds both a troubled past and future. As a response to rapid technological advancement in the area of reproduction, this action has introduced complex legal and ethical issues in the courts' efforts to respond to the question: 'Can parenthood ever constitute an injury?' At the heart of this dilemma lies the manner by which both law and society conceptualize 'harm'--is this 'part of the normal vicissitudes of life' or a harmful event? But this question is not decided within a legal vacuum and public policy factors have deeply influenced the nature and existence of case law in this field. In the context of the controversial cases of McFarlane v Tayside Health Board [2000] and Rees v Darlington Memorial Hospital [2002], this article critically examines how 'harm' is judicially characterized and explores the various tensions emerging from conflicting harm constructs. In arguing that the courts must seek to find a balanced approach between public policy concerns and reproductive autonomy, this article will present a fresh theoretical perspective to the conceptualization of harm based on autonomy as the central organizing principle.

Child↗

International actors and population policies in India, with special reference to contraceptive policies.

The international population policy agenda has traditionally been dominated by demographically driven population control policies. However, in the population policy development that preceded the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, people's reproductive needs and rights received more emphasis. The aim of this study was to analyze how the new emphasis in population policies has been interpreted at the country level. In analyzing population policy rhetoric and its practical interpretations in India in 1994, the authors found that the rhetoric was broadening to encompass women's empowerment and reproductive health and that the use of direct method-specific monetary incentives and disincentives for accepting family planning methods was disapproved. However, population policy options were still considered mainly in terms of their ability to reduce fertility. Furthermore, the increased emphasis on the general market agenda was more important than that on reproductive needs and rights in molding population policies, as was evident in the greater stress on cost-recovery systems and nongovernmental actors. The findings suggest that the broader agenda for population policies and reproductive rights has been interpreted so that it can serve the aims of population-growth control and be implemented in the context of more market-oriented social policies and trade liberalization.

Contraception↗

Sex and the sacred: sterilization and bodily integrity in English and Canadian law.

Through an examination of cases of non-consensual sterilization for learning disabled persons in Canada and England, this article considers the role that law plays in framing the thoughts, beliefs, and norms that fashion the ways we think about bodies, sex, gender, and sexuality. The author asks how it is that Canadian and English law, while both claiming to protect bodily integrity, have reached opposing conclusions about whether non-therapeutic sterilization can be in a person's best interests. She hypothesizes that the answer could lie in the manner in which courts have constructed the bodies of learning disabled men and women in the sphere of sexuality and reproduction. Where the overriding concern in the sterilization cases is the containment of the sexuality of a learning disabled person perceived as "out of control" or "vulnerable to seduction", sterilization is cast as a just and humane solution that will advance the welfare of the individual concerned. Conversely, where the overriding concern is the preservation of the integrity of a law committed to the principle of equality, sterilization is thought to be a violation of the bodily integrity of the person. The author shows that these two views engender very different legal and cultural discourses about best interests and bodily integrity. The debate highlighted by the sterilization cases and the commentary surrounding them reflect larger tension within legal discourse between the commitment to liberal values and the maintenance of a particular social order.

Canada↗