Is there a moral obligation to conceive children under the best possible conditions? A preliminary framework for identifying the preconception responsibilities of potential parents

BMC Medical Ethics

Sigrid Sterckx²  Guido Pennings¹  Pieter Bonte¹ 

[1] Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

关键词: Genetic testing;    Obesity;    Folic acid;    Beneficence;    Preconception care;   

Others  :  799601
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6939-15-5

 received in 2013-08-22, accepted in 2013-12-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

The preventative paradigm of preconception care is receiving increasing attention, yet its boundaries remain vague in three respects: temporally; agentially; and instrumentally. Crucially, it remains unclear just who is to be considered a ‘potential parent’, how soon they should take up preconception responsibilities, and how weighty their responsibilities should be.

Discussion

In this paper, we argue that a normal potential parent of reasonable prudence has a moral duty to adequately optimize the conditions under which she or his reproductive partner will conceive, though a proportionality calculus calls for toleration of several forms of preconception behaviour that are non-ideal from the perspective of reproductive risk. We distinguish between five categories of potential parents to which different duties of preconception care should be ascribed. This framework is advanced to assign preconception care responsibilities with more precision than is often done in the current debate on preconception care. We conclude by applying our theoretical framework to three types of preconception care interventions: consumption of folic acid; keeping one’s weight under control; and engaging in preconception genetic screening. Our analysis shows that the literature on preconception care often glosses over crucial distinctions between different types of potential parents and uses a notion of preconception beneficence that may be overly demanding. Nevertheless, preconception moral duties will often be weighty and reluctance to accept such duties on account of the burden they impose do not warrant preconception insouciance.

Summary

To avoid misplaced responsibility ascriptions in the growing field of preconception care, distinctions must be made between different types of potential parents to whom different degrees of preconception responsibility apply. We present such a preliminary framework and bring it to bear on the cases of folic acid consumption, obesity and genetic testing.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Bonte et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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