1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812552903321

Autore

Murphy Timothy F. <1955->

Titolo

Ethics, sexual orientation, and choices about children / / Timothy F. Murphy

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, MA, : MIT Press, c2012

ISBN

1-283-62983-6

0-262-30582-8

9786613942289

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (195 p.)

Collana

Basic bioethics

Disciplina

176/.4

Soggetti

Homosexuality - Genetic aspects

Sexual orientation - Research - Moral and ethical aspects

Prenatal influences

Prenatal diagnosis

Human genetics - Moral and ethical aspects

Bioethics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The controversy -- The controversy goes mainstream -- A genetic study raises the stake -- Book reports, mostly -- In defense of trait selection -- More debate -- Beyond rights -- Not a few last words.

Sommario/riassunto

Parents routinely turn to prenatal testing to screen for genetic or chromosomal disorders or to learn their child's sex. What if they could use similar prenatal interventions to learn (or change) their child's sexual orientation? Bioethicists have debated the moral implications of this still-hypothetical possibility for several decades. Some commentators fear that any scientific efforts to understand the origins of homosexuality could mean the end of gay and lesbian people, if parents shy away from having homosexual children. Others defend parents' rights to choose the traits of their children in general and see no reason to treat sexual orientation differently. In this book, Timothy Murphy traces the controversy over prenatal selection of sexual orientation, offering a critical review of the literature and presenting his own argument in favor of parents' reproductive liberty. Arguing against



commentators who want to restrict the scientific study of sexual orientation or technologies that emerge from that study, Murphy proposes a defense of parents' right to choose. This, he argues, is the only view that helps protect children from hurtful family environments, that is consistent with the increasing powers of prenatal interventions, and that respects human futures as something other than accidents of the genetic lottery.