Here some reflections on Christopher Newell

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NZ bioethics council

Hi All,

Looks like a really interesting blog going on here! Rob asked me to make a couple of comments on the NZ Bioethics Council’s report of pre-birth testing Who gets born? A report on the cultural, ethical and spiritual issues raised by pre-birth testing. To quote from its website ‘Toi te Taiao: New Zealand’s Bioethics Council, was formed with the aim of enhancing New Zealand’s understanding of the cultural, ethical and spiritual aspects of biotechnology, and ensuring that the use of biotechnology has regard for New Zealanders’ values.’ The spur for the recent report was the recent decision in NZ to publicly fund Pre Implantation Genetic Diagnosis for ‘high risk’ couples. It’s up to government to decide how, if at all, the Council’s advice should be translated into policy.

The report’s a conscientiously small ‘l’ liberal document. Many of its recommendations could have been directly cribbed from the pages of John Robertson’s book, Children of Choice. The emphasis is very much on facilitating parental choice, with health professionals given the role of supplying parents with the information they need to make choices consistent with their values. Saviour siblings are OK – Parents can attempt to conceive saviour children naturally so it would be wrong to stop them using PGD to improve their chances of having a child who could provide cord blood etc that could save a sibling. Parents should be allowed to use PGD to avoid conceiving children with health problems or to have pre-birth tests to avoid giving birth to such children.