Ethical guidelines for birth defect prevention recommended by experts

China's maternal and child health work is still facing many challenges, such as unbalanced development and inadequate services. Since the adjustment of the family planning policy, the proportion of older and more productive sub-parturient women have increased, the risk for birth defects has increased, the demand for newborn safety has further increased, and the work of maternal and child health is facing new challenges. The experts from the medicine, medical ethics, sociology, and other fields put forward the principle of ethical guidance for birth defect prevention after full discussion and continuous revision based on expert proposals, which include the principle of life dignity, love, scientific principle, fair principle, respect for autonomy principle, the principle of beneficence and the principle of good privacy protection. The guideline can serve the birth defect prevention clinical practice, be better to respect and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of people at childbearing age, eliminate ethics cognition pitfalls of birth defect prevention, and regulate the behavior of birth defect prevention-related ethics.