Predicting the Judicial Response to an Asserted Right to Reproductive Cloning
Jessica Lin Lewis, J.D., 29 J. Legal Med. 523 (2008)
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Section I reviews the traditional justifications for granting autonomy with regard to many assisted reproductive techniques and considers whether those justifications are sufficient to envelop an asexual form of human reproduction. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that asexual cloning meets the threshold requirements for the courts to recognize a fundamental right or protected liberty interest, section II discusses several competing interests that must be considered to fully understand the impact of adding cloning to the repertoire of available assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Among these are the state’s interest in preventing physical and psychological harms that may accompany the human reproductive cloning process, the varied legal implications of human cloning, and the broader ethical concerns associated with genetic engineering and the potential for abuse. Finally, the article concludes with a general discussion of the difficulty of balancing the various positive and negative consequences of SCNT cloning, particularly when the number of people who may be harmed by this personal choice to clone outweighs the number who stand to benefit from the technology.
