Saviour Siblings and the Regulation of Assisted Reproductive Technology

Advances in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) have been revolutionary. This book focuses on the use of ARTs in the context of families who seek to conceive a matching sibling donor as a source of tissue to treat an existing sick child. Such children have been referred to as 'saviour siblings'. Considering the legal and regulatory frameworks that impact on the accessibility of this technology in Australia and the UK, the work analyses the ethical and moral issues that arise from the use of the technology for this specific purpose. The author claims the only justification for limiting a family's reproductive liberty in this context is where the exercise of reproductive decision-making results in harm to others. It is argued that the harm principle is the underlying feature of legislative action in Western democratic society, and as such, this principle provides the grounds upon which a strong and persuasive argument is made for a less-restrictive regulatory approach in the context of 'saviour siblings'. The book will be of great relevance and interest to academics, researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of law, ethics, philosophy, science and medicine.

Malcolm Smith is Senior Lecturer in Law and a member of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at Queensland University of Technology. His current research focuses on the legal, regulatory and ethical issues associated with assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). He has published in these and related areas.

Preface; Conceiving saviour children: technological advances, ethical concern and legitimate regulatory oversight?; The regulatory landscape relevant to assisted reproductive technology; Regulating access to and the delivery of pre-implantation tissue-typing services; Liberty and reproductive decision-making; The harm principle as a means for justifying state intervention and regulation; Creating saviour children: what is the harm?; Creating saviour children: the wider ethical and moral arguments; Regulating assisted reproductive technology services for the creation of saviour children: a way forward; Bibliography; Index.