Ethics

Is it ethical to sterilise an adolescent with an intellectual disability?

In a recent case in the US, a mother requested a vasectomy for her 13 year old son. He has autism and intellectual disability, and functions at the level of 4-5 year old. He had starting talking about getting married and having children, and she was concerned to make sure that he could never father a child. We will discuss this case, in the context of the wider ethical debate about sterilisation of children and young people, mostly young women, with intellectual disability. Concepts of bodily integrity, dignity and human rights meet with the practicalities of life for a young person with ID and their parents and carers.

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Gene Editing is a Moral Imperative

In today’s industrialised, globalised world, we live to extreme old age. But this extended life span comes with a trade-off: our DNA is now out of sync with our environment. We can live for eight, nine, even ten decades, while the use-by date on our DNA is closer to 40-50 years. That means people spend their later years living with the diseases of ageing. If our DNA is lettering us down, why shouldn’t we alter it to suit our environment?

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