ABSTRACT
Introduction In January 2009, great media attention was given to the birth of a child at the hospital of the University College of London. Through the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), this child had been picked out from 11 sibling embryos, on the basis that it did not carry the so-called breast cancer gene BRCA1, which often occurred in this family. The diagnosis of this gene is highly disputed due to its merely statistical probability of causing the disease. At that moment, such a selection amongst embryos was impossible in Germany, as any manipulation of the embryo was prohibited – until recently. However, as has also been internationally reported, on July 7, 2011 the German Parliament decided to allow PGD in specific cases of severe illnesses genetically detectable in the embryo. Whether this decision signifies a big change for German biopolitics, particularly ARTs, is contested.1 In any case, manipulation and selection of the embryo is no longer categorically excluded. This chapter discusses the broader context of ARTs in Germany and how this new position on PGD is accommodated in the humanist values that have traditionally dominated the ART debate in Germany. It is based on a review study, analyzing past and recent publications by medical representatives, Parliament, and the relevant ministries as well as feminist literature on ARTs in Germany. Additionally, the section on “The recent acceptance of PGD” draws on my previous dissertation study (Bock von Wülfingen 2007), a discourse analysis of hitherto unheard arguments in favor of the combination of biotechnology and ARTs in Germany appearing in public since the late 1990s. The Embryo Protection Act (EPA) of 1990 bans any manipulation or use of an embryo for any aim other than its transfer into a woman’s womb immediately after the stage of fertilization, and IVF itself is also very restricted. A recent amendment (2011) makes an exception for specific, restricted situations in which PGD may be used. There had been a lot of dispute in the Federal Republic of Germany (“West Germany,” FRG) during the 1980s to this legal position. During these disputes, in the Bundestag (the German Parliament) feminist arguments joined with those of conservatives in a unanimously critical stance toward
ART methods. In addition, the German intellectual, so-called quality print media followed an agreement that questioning the EPA was perceived as breaking a taboo. In the early years after the millennium, an attempt was made to replace the EPA with a new Reproductive Medicine Law. Although it failed, it nevertheless helped to transform the perception of ARTs in Germany. In 2010 this change became obvious, culminating in the 2011 modification of the EPA. Against this backdrop, it is the aim of this chapter to compare ART discourses before and after 2000. The first section details the regulation of ARTs in Germany since 1990. In the next section, I describe the specific German cultural and historical background that helps to explain the country’s extremely cautious approach to ARTs, which is usually depicted as a consequence of the experience of National Socialism in Germany. This section includes the confrontation with reproductive realities, such as a significantly low birthrate, and pressure from different stakeholders since around the year 2000, who were interested in relaxing the strict regulations. The last section demonstrates that one of the major lines of thought helping to accommodate PGD into the restrictive legislation is the adaptation of the reproductive rights and self-determination discourse from the in-vivo to the in-vitro situation, discursively creating – in the German context – what I call an “in-vitro pregnancy.”
