Discourse on moral permissibility and regulation of medical biotechnology (example of in vitro fertilization and assisted reproductive technologies)

Abstract

The article analyses the history of the discourse on ethical issues of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and related assisted reproductive technologies (ART). These biotechnologies have gone from experimental medicine to routine medical practice, and it is possible to trace the discourse from moral permissibility of the biotechnologies in its very beginning to negative consequences of IVF and other related ART. The author considers concerns expressed by philosophers, scientists and representatives of different social groups about the practice of the biotechnologies. The study also analyses arguments of bioethics and religious ethics (Christianity and Islam). The author comes to decision, that practice of IVF and associated with it ART is morally permissible in if it has therapeutic effect and / or does not lead to violation of human rights, is not used in order to create superhuman or, on the contrary, biorobots. The notion of common good, matters of state or humankind are rare expressed in the context of the discourse. One of the recommendations of World medical association, expressing the value of common good and sacrificing individual interests is the prohibition on the choice of sex of a baby due to ART if it is not a case of sex-linked deceases. Religious ethics puts on serious limitations on the usage of IVF and related ART, because it is often lead to the violation of the religious norms, regulating family relations and it is considered as a sin.