When Is Birth Unfair to the Child?

Abstract

Has a child been treated unfairly if the only way it can exist is by having an awful life? A principle of parental responsibility can be used to show how the child is wronged.

Reconfiguring Child and Parental Rights: A Case for Coerced Contraception

“…The common thread in these cases is that these freedoms are in the area of privacy where other reproductive choices, notably abortion, reside (Steinboch & McClamrod, 1994). Also relevant are the wide liberty parents traditionally have in raising children (Boyle & Spencer, 1995) and the notion of bodily integrity wherein coerced contraception is seen as battery (Walker, 1993).…”

“…All children are born with an interest in not being harmed and in having an open future (Davis, 1997;Steinboch, 1986;Steinboch & McClamrod, 1994). In this context, avoiding, harm means not experiencing undue mental, physical or spiritual suffering.…”

“…This concern extends to attempts to monitor and control behavior of pregnant women for fetal welfare (Cole, 1990). In wrongful life cases, physicians are accountable for negligent non-disclosure to parents of genetic and environmental fetal risks (Steinboch & McClamrod, 1994). Harms can result from negligent preconception behavior and tort action against parents can follow (Steefil, 1977).…”

Parental, Medical, and Sociological Responsibilities: “Octomom” as a Case Study in the Ethics of Fertility Treatments

“…That is not the kind of answer a loving parent could give. Anyone willing to subject a child to a miserable life when this could have been avoided would seem to fail to live up to a minimal ideal of parenting [26].…”

Storks, Cabbage Patches, and the Right to Procreate

“…For decades, debate over whether it is possible to harm or wrong children by the very act that brings them into existence has been a major focus of discussions about the morality of procreative actions among legal scholars and philosophers [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. As the use of ARTs has become commonplace and innovative means of making babies continue to be developed, there has also been a lot of discussion about whether the supposed right to procreate encompasses a right to medical assistance in procreation or a right to determine a prospective person's genotype, e.g., through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), cloning, or germline manipulation.…”