ABSTRACT
A major source of both hope and unease concerning new and emerging reproductive technologies, in particular those that apply a growing body of genetic knowledge, is that they bring with them increasing possibilities of deciding the kind of people that will be born. Prenatal and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PND and PGD) already allow would-be parents to choose not to give birth to children who suffer from specifically targeted genetic diseases. Some believe that germline gene transfer has the potential of becoming a powerful tool both for replacing disease genes and for engineering genes that code for a wide variety of non-disease traits. Reported cases of non-medical sex selection and selection for disabilities such as deafness by means of PGD have already stirred up considerable controversy. This chapter suggests that the discourse on the freedom of future people that pervades debates about the ethics of reproductive technologies harbours some quite distinct concerns.
