Biplab Halder

The Principle of Procreative Beneficence formulated by Julian Savulescu and Guy Kahane states that the parents have a moral obligation to select the best possible child, when selection is possible, by means of the genetic screening of the embryos. Savulescu not only advocates the genetic screening in order to avoid the disease markers but also advocates for selecting the non-disease genetic traits of an embryo which might contribute to the child’s better future, e.g. the intelligence of the child or selecting a particular sex. In the paper, I put forward the question whether preimplantation genetic diagnosis is justified in the case of selecting the non-disease genetic markers. I explore the fundamental assumptions of the Principle of Procreative Beneficence as well as its moral foundation in order to understand Savulescu’s claim. I argue against the pro-selection view of Julian Savulescu exploring the basic assumptions and moral foundation of the Principle of Procreative Beneficence. The Principle of Procreative Beneficence presumes that the non-medical and medical use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis are mutually inclusive in the question of a moral obligation for the parents. However, I identify that this is not the case if we consider the possible consequences of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis to the potential life of the child; the non-medical and medical use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis are mutually exclusive in terms of their implication on a child. The Principle of Procreative Beneficence also presumes a degree of parental obligation in the concept of ‘significant moral reason’ in the case of employing Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis which is morally problematic. Finally, I argue that the moral foundation of the Principle of Procreative Beneficence is based on the ‘common moral intuition’ which is not an authentic source of moral truth; hence, the Principle of Procreative Beneficence cannot justify the non-medical use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, “What will I be? Will I be pretty; Will I be rich?” Here’s what she said to me “Que sera, sera Whatever will be, will be The future’s not ours to see Que sera, sera What will be, will be” [A popular song in the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much ]