Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1975
ISSN
0014-729X
Publisher
American Bar Association
Language
en-US
Abstract
The introduction of accurate methods to screen for genetic defects in the adult, the newborn, and the fetus promises to increase man's control over his own destiny. If that promise is to be realized, however, careful planning will be needed to prevent the technology of screening from imposing its own ethic on man. The invention of the club enabled man to increase his ability to hunt for food, and simultaneously to brutalize his fellow man. In the same way, while advances in genetic screening could lead to an increase in self autonomy for a few, they may also encourage the sterilization of those determined to be genetically "unfit" to reproduce and the abortion of those judged "unfit" to be born.
Recommended Citation
George J. Annas,
"Fitness" for Birth and Reproduction: Legal Implications of Genetic Screening
,
in
9
Family Law Quarterly
463
(1975).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1222
