Marko Іa.

postgraduate student of Theory and Philosophy of Law department

ILP NU Lviv Polytechnic

Legal restrictions on reproduction rights by surrogacy

The development of medicine and biotechnologies led to the emergence of new opportunities for human reproduction. The right to procreation, motherhood and fatherhood is major, natural and fundamental for human and humanity. Globalization changes caused modern transformational changes including the possibility of practical application of surrogacy. However, in terms of legal regulation are still many unsolved problems. One of them is the issue of the boundaries of intervention in natural processes. This scientific work is devoted to analysis of the impact of genetic engineering on human development.

Throughout the whole stage of civilization development mankind has tried to influence future generations in terms of gender selection, genetic codes, health state, and creativity of expected child and so on. The development of biomedicine created the practical possibility of parents influence on these supernatural processes. Nowadays geneticists believe that having knowledge about their genetic background, people can for the first time in their history to plan their lives, based on reliable basic information. They can choose the most suitable career and education, plan children birth from the most appropriate set of gene partner, and decide which products to use and so on. However authorities and employers will have an access to the tools of flawless testing of workers and employees. Therefore meritocracy, by the apt remark of Swedish biologist Torborna Faherstroma [1, p. 163], will materialize in a fundamentally new form of "genocracy."

Biomedical technologies as a kind of modern biotechnologies carry particular risk for humans, because they determine the possibilities of the most radical modifications of bodily and mental existence of a man. The study and use of embryos in consumer purposes, as well as pre-implantation diagnosis illustrate instrumentalization and technicalization of the individuals, pose a threat, looming on us from the liberal eugenics. Biotechnologies negate our identity as species beings, since genetic manipulations are the biggest intervention in the bodily integrity of person that you can imagine. It is associated with unpredictable risks for a specific person, which (if will survive) would have to live and identify him/her-self as mutant [2].

The above mentioned affects not only the identity of the separate individual, but also the problem is moral and socio-demographic factors. There’re a lot of rhetorical questions. Among them are the following. Do parents have the right to choose the sex of their baby? Will such choice cause a disharmony between male and female sex? Won’t genetic code violations lead to irreversible consequences for humanity?

F. Fukuyama gives a vivid example that illustrates exactly this situation: "In Asia the ratio of cheap ultrasound examination and the possibility of abortions led to the drastic changes in the number of female and male sex. In Korea in the early 90s of the twentieth century for 122 boys were born 100 girls at a normal ratio of 105 to 100, a similar situation has arisen in the People's Republic of China and India, which caused a shortage of girls in Asia. So substantial violation of the ratio between the sexes could cause serious consequences, i.e. in a few decades in China will emerge a situation where for every fifth men of marriageable age there won’t be a bride" [3, p.120].

Thus, the ban on sex selection is an important principle of implementing reproductive rights. Parents who use the technology of surrogacy may also wish to use genetic engineering to select the sex of the expected child. We stand on the position that a person can not violate the divine nature of universe life activity, existential values and norms. This prohibition, in our opinion, should be introduced in the legal regulation of a defined methodology. Therefore we make impossible violation of the natural order of things.

It should be noted that prohibition of sex selection for reproductive technologies should have exceptions. A number of diseases are caused by the human gender. To avoid violations of health state, we should ensure the viability of the fetus and allow in such cases according to medical reasons the possibility of gender selection of the child.

The possibilities of modern genetic engineering allow parents to choose not only sex but also other characteristics of a child. Under these circumstances we can talk not about the creation but about designing of the child according to the specified parameters. According to B. Yudin, "This child will be perceived as "produced" by parents. In addition, it is a "production" not only in the genetic or socio-psychological, but also in terms of technology. In other words, the child will be perceived not as a natural entity, but as a creature constructed or reconstructed and brought to life according to a human plan" [4, p.277].

The humanity couldn’t allow such kind of development. Therefore, in 1997, UNESCO adopted the Declaration "On the human genome and human rights", stating that the human genome emphasizes the fundamental unity of all members of the human community. In a symbolic sense genome is the heritage of humanity. Every person has the right to respect his/her dignity and his/her rights, regardless of his/her genetic characteristics [5, p.58]. The principle of interference boundaries in the human genome, the prohibition of sex selection and other special characteristics of future child are important for national and international legal regulation of reproductive rights by means of surrogacy technology.

Literature:

1. Бард А. Нетократия. Новая правящая элита и жизнь после капитализма / А. Бард, Я. Зодерквист – СПб., 2004. – 256 с.

2. Терешкун О. Сучасні біотехнології та ідентичність індивіда / О. Терешкун // Наукові записки [Національного університету "Острозька академія"]. Сер. : Культурологія. - 2011. - Вип. 7. - С. 122-126.

3. Фукуяма Ф. Наше постчеловеческое будущее: Последствия биотехнологической революции / Ф. Фукуяма; [пер. с англ. М.Б. Левина]. – М.: ООО «Издательство АСТ»: ОАО «ЛЮКС». 2004. – 349 с.

4. Юдин Б.Г. От утопии к науке: конструирование человека / Б.Г. Юдин // Вызов познанию: Стратегии развития науки в современном мире. – М.: Наука, 2004. – С. 261-281.

5. Чешко В.Ф. Генетика, біоетика, політика: коеволюція культурно-психологічних парадигм сучасної цивілізації / В.Ф. Чешко // Практична філософія. – 2001. – №3. – С. 44-71.