Reproductive Genetic Screening: More Questions Than Answers
The Genomics Law Report has published a couple of guest commentaries recently dealing with genetic screening—a topic our own Adam Doerr also addressed in two posts this summer dealing with “wrongful life” claims brought against sperm banks by children with genetic diseases inherited from their donor fathers. Such claims are premised on the failure of the sperm bank to conduct genetic screening that could have detected the defective genes—thereby avoiding the conception of the child on whose behalf the wrongful life claim is brought.
In this post, I look at a recent gamete screening controversy—the revelation that a man fathered at least two dozen children, all but two through the donation of his sperm to a bank, despite having a potentially serious genetic defect—and examine numerous issues the story raises. Many relate to whose interests are valued the highest. Should the wellbeing of the children born of the process—the only people involved who have no say in the matter—come first, or does respect for the autonomy of the parents control? I do not attempt to answer the questions posed, but seek to encourage discussion with respect to the need for clearer policies and guidance in a number of these areas.
