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Genetic Dilemmas And The Child's Right To An Open Future, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In this paper, I examine three difficult issues raised by the Human Genome Project, and lay out an approach that takes seriously the interests of the child, present or future, while preserving the traditional commitment of professional geneticists to patient autonomy. The approach I take is based on Joel Feinberg's concept of "the child's right to an open future." In Part II, I describe the Human Genome Project, as well as the advances in assisted reproduction which give people ways to make use of the information engendered by the HGP. In Part III, I discuss the ethics of medical genetics, …