After a consultation procedure, the New Zealand Bioethics Council (Toi Te Taiao), has released advice to the government on pre-birth testing, in a paper entitled 'Who Gets Born?' The yearlong consultation process polled more than 700 New Zealanders to gauge their opinions on PGD the testing of embryos for genetic diseases prior to their implantation in the womb.
Worldwide, the incident of PGD is increasing, and in most countries it is allowed in order to allow families to avoid bringing babies being born with painful, disabling or incurable conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or Down syndrome. However, technology is expanding the range of tests available, with the result that society, specifically parents, are now in many cases able to decide who does and does not get born.
Martin Wilkinson, Chair Associate of the Bioethics Council, emphasised the cultural, spiritual and ethical nature of the issues surrounding PGD, and the corresponding need to engage with members of the public to ascertain their opinions. Mr Wilkinson commented that, 'parents are facing more choices as the range of pre-birthing testing expands, and government is working on new guidelines to govern the growing availability - and consequences - of PGD'.
Controversially, the report calls for a lifting of the ban on embryo sex selection for non-medical reasons, which has resulted in criticism that the report will discount many decades of action taken against sex discrimination. The report advises the government that there are insufficient 'cultural, ethical and spiritual' considerations to deny sex selection for social reasons, and called for further investigation into the apparent public concern surrounding sex selection.
Professor Evans, director of the Bioethics Centre at the University of Otago, was surprised at the support for social sex selection, which contravenes recent social changes to promote gender equality. He stated, 'maybe their inquiries didn't come up with any further evidence, but they certainly chose to ignore this crucial social evidence, which is characterised by our society becoming a more just society over these past 30 or 40 years'. The Catholic Church also criticised the recommendation in favour of embryo sex selection as pursing 'designer babies'.
The New Zealand government funds PGD in cases where parents are likely to pass on serious medical conditions to their children, but Dr Richard Fisher, director of Fertility Associates, reports that total numbers screened only amounts to around 60 cycles a year. Dr Fisher commented that it was illegal to even speak to patients about embryo sex selection, but thought that many couples travelled overseas to obtain the service. He thought that many such couples had already had two children of each gender already, and said 'when you stand in their shoes it's quite difficult to come up with a reason why the community should stop them doing what they want to do'.
Sylvia Rumball, of the advisory committee on assisted reproductive technology, said that the advice to Government did not contain recommendations on sex selection, because it was prohibited in law.
Sources and References
-
'Designer baby' boom ruled out
-
Gender choice a step back
-
Who gets born? A report on the cultural, ethical and spiritual issues raised by pre-birth testing
-
Who Gets Born? Advice to government on new biotechnologies
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.