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Reproductive freedom and risk
1Philosophy Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa. dbenatar@humanities.uct.ac.za
Human Reproduction (Oxford, England)
|June 16, 2006
Summary
Limiting reproductive freedom to prevent harm to offspring is ethically consistent with restricting other freedoms to prevent harm. This research proposes methods to avoid bias when determining harm thresholds for reproductive rights.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Reproductive Ethics
- Philosophy of Law
Background:
- Societal norms permit restricting individual freedoms to prevent harm to non-consenting individuals.
- A recognized right to reproductive freedom often faces reluctance to be limited, even when reproduction may cause harm to the resulting person.
Purpose of the Study:
- To argue for the ethical consistency of limiting reproductive freedom to prevent harm to offspring.
- To propose a framework for avoiding bias in decisions regarding reproductive rights curtailment.
Main Methods:
- Philosophical argumentation analyzing the ethical principles of harm prevention.
- Examination of historical precedents and potential biases in reproductive rights policy.
Main Results:
- The ethical principle of preventing harm should apply equally to reproductive and non-reproductive contexts.
- Existing frameworks for limiting freedoms can be adapted to address reproductive harm.
Conclusions:
- Limiting reproductive freedom to prevent significant harm to a future person is ethically justifiable.
- Developing unbiased criteria for assessing harm is crucial for fair application of reproductive rights limitations.