Rethinking reprogenetics: enhancing ethical analyses of reprogenetic technologies

305 Pages·2017·1.958 MB·English

by  Melo-Martín, Inmaculada de

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R E T H I N K I NG
R E P ROGE N E T IC S
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Rethinking

Reprogenetics
Enhancing Ethical Analyses
of Reprogenetic Technologies
Inmaculada de Melo- Martín
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: de Melo- Martín, Inmaculada, author.
Title: Rethinking reprogenetics : enhancing ethical analyses of reprogenetic
technologies / by Inmaculada de Melo- Martín.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2017] | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016013522| ISBN 9780190460204 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190460228 (epub) | ISBN 9780190460211 (updf)
Subjects: | MESH: Reproductive Techniques, Assisted— ethics | Genetic
Enhancement—e thics
Classification: LCC RG133.5 | NLM WQ 208 | DDC 176/ .2— dc23 LC record available
at http://l ccn.loc.gov/2 016013522
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Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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For Cristina,
she is so much like her mom, her dad, and her brother
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments  | ix
1. Introduction: Challenging Mainstream Defenses
of Reprogenetic Technologies  | 1
2. Reprogenetic Technologies: An Overview  | 35
3. Procreative Liberty: The Moral Permissibility
of Reprogenetics  | 62
4. Conscripted in the Pursuit of Perfection: The Moral
Obligation to use Reprogenetic Technologies  | 97
5. The Illusion of Control: Reprogenetic Technologies and
the Natural Lottery  | 133
6. Not of Woman Born: Reprogenetics and the Erasing
of Women  | 160
7. Different Things Delight Different People: On
the Value- Neutrality of Reprogenetic Technologies  | 197
8. Enhancing the Assessment of Reprogenetic
Technologies: The Case of Mitochondrial Replacement  | 245
INDEX | 281
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ACK NOW LEDGMEN TS
This book has benefited from the comments of friends and col-
leagues. Thanks are due to Stephen Brown, Ina Cholst, Sharon
Crasnow, Malia Fullerton, Anita Ho, Kristen Intemann, Mary
Mahowald, Laura Purdy, and Arleen Salles for their helpful sug-
gestions and criticisms.
Much of this work was done during my 2015 sabbatical
leave. I am thankful to Weill Cornell Medical College for sab-
batical funding and to my Division Chief, Joseph Fins, for his
support. Thanks also to Zev Rosenwaks and Ron MacKenzie for
their continuing support of my work. Part of my sabbatical leave
was spent at the University of Washington. I am grateful to the
UW Philosophy Department for inviting me to be the Benjamin
Rabinowitz Visiting Professor in Medical Ethics. It was while I was
there that this project took final shape. I am particularly grate-
ful to Sara Goering, Michael Rosenthal, and Alison Wylie for all
their help during my stay. Thanks are also due to the students in
my class, Ethical Issues in Reproductive and Genetic Technologies.
Our discussions helped me clarify many of the arguments that
appear in this book.
I am similarly indebted to Stephen Brown for pushing me
to write this book and for offering me the space— literally and
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