Abstract
Expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has provoked ethical concerns about its justifiable scope. In this paper, we evaluate the role of the child’s right to an open future in setting the scope of NIPT. This ‘open future principle’ has been cited in arguments both limiting and expanding parental freedoms. This moral right holds that adult autonomy rights which children cannot yet exercise should nonetheless be protected until they can. Its purpose is to protect the future autonomy of the child as a future adult. Several authors have extended this rationale from child to fetus. However, the right was not anticipated to apply to the fetus, a non-legal entity in many jurisdictions. The aim of this paper is to reconsider whether this principle is useful to help deliberate the scope of NIPT. We find that extending the open future principle to delineate the scope of NIPT is theoretically flawed. We contend that in the prenatal context its value primarily lies with counselling for prenatal screening where it can be used to encourage parents’ reflection on the implications of knowing for the sake of knowing on their future children and their relationship with them.
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Notes
For recent and comprehensive overviews see Gadsbøll et al. (2020) and Ravitsky et al. (2021).
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Acknowledgments
At the time of the manuscript’s inception, ZC received a Fund Professor Roger Dillemans Scholarship. ZC would also like to thank Audun Benjamin Bengtson, Annie Bolger, Jacob Quick, and Maria Siermann for helpful discussions and remarks.
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ZC drafted the manuscript. PB offered substantial contributions to the conception of the work. PB, NC, LH and JRV offered substantial contributions to the initial drafts and critically revised it for important intellectual content. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Claesen, Z., Crombag, N., Henneman, L. et al. Expanded Non-invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT). Bioethical Inquiry 20, 41–49 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-022-10222-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-022-10222-7