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Conception and the concept of harm.

The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy

|May 1, 1983

Summary

New reproductive technologies allow parents to avoid having children with genetic diseases or fetal abnormalities. This essay challenges the "Otherwise-Condition" harm analysis, arguing it inadequately defines harm and moral obligations to offspring.

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Area of Science:

Bioethics
Reproductive Science
Medical Law

Background:

Advances in prenatal diagnosis and genetic screening offer prospective parents options to prevent the birth of children with congenital diseases or fetal abnormalities.
Legal frameworks permit abortion for various reasons, including fetal anomalies, raising new ethical considerations regarding parental obligations.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically examine the prevailing "Otherwise-Condition" analysis of harm concerning congenital diseases and defects.
To challenge the adequacy of this definition in accounting for ordinary harm and its connection to causation.
To explore the implications for moral obligations towards prospective offspring.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of the "Otherwise-Condition" approach to harm.
Examination of its limitations in ordinary harm cases.
Critique of its linkage between harm and causation.
Assessment against established moral intuitions.

Main Results:

The "Otherwise-Condition" analysis is insufficient for ordinary harm cases, irrespective of its application to congenital anomalies.
This harm analysis establishes an arbitrary and flawed connection between harm and causation.
The prevailing definition conflicts with deeply held moral intuitions regarding congenital conditions.

Conclusions:

The "Otherwise-Condition" analysis of harm is inadequate and requires revision.
Rebutting this definition opens avenues for recognizing congenital diseases and defects as harms to affected children.
This has significant implications for understanding moral obligations in reproductive decision-making.

Keywords:

Analytical Approach Consequences Genetics and Reproduction Legal Approach Philosophical Approach

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