The Ethics of the New Eugenics

Strategies or decisions aimed at affecting in a manner considered to be positive the genetic heritage of a child in the context of human reproduction are increasingly being accepted in contemporary society. As a result unnerving similarities between earlier selection ideology so central to the discredited eugenic regimes of the 20th century and those now on offer suggest that a new era of eugenics has dawned. The time is ripe therefore for considering and evaluating from an ethical perspective both current and future selection practices. This inter-disciplinary volume blends research from embryology genetics philosophy sociology psychology and history. In so doing it constructs a thorough picture of the procedures emerging from today’s reproductive developments including a rigorous ethical argumentation concerning the possible advantages and risks related to the new eugenics.