@article{9ec6f0ef131140e4a07562d5ca4bb61e,
title = "Ethical issues in reproductive genetics",
abstract = "Because of technological developments in reproductive genetics, couples now have many options not available a decade ago. Some developments are controversial and deeply divide our society. This article examines some of these issues and establishes guidelines of approach.",
author = "Fletcher, {J. C.} and Evans, {M. I.}",
note = "Funding Information: Investigators in many nations have ably and slowly advanced fetal therapy since Liley's pioneering work. 41 We were involved in the first (and only) fetal therapy experiment at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health to prevent recurrence of 21-hydroxylase deficiency in a fetus 42 of a woman whose previous female child needed surgery after birth to correct masculinized genitalia. This event had deeply influenced both parents to prevent the birth of another affected infant by abortion. They were informed about the untested concept of fetal therapy with dexamethasone suppression of the fetal adrenal gland. They were somewhat uninterested in the experiment until they viewed the fetus on ultrasound. The experiment was performed, and a female infant was delivered at 39 weeks who was a carrier, like her mother, but not seriously affected. The mother volunteered that, even after many talks with physicians, she really did not understand that the disease was a genetic disorder. She said, {"}I thought that it was my fault because of something I had done.{"} The experiment showed that suppression of the fetal adrenal gland was possible and subsequent fetal diagnosis and drug therapy of this type has been very successful, especially in FranceY The first international fetal therapy meeting, sponsored by the Kroc Foundation in 1982, 44 led to the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society. Each year, ethical problems in experimental fetal therapy are debated and reconsidered. The records of these meetings chronicle the ethical problems in experimental fetal therapy and approaches to their resolution.",
year = "1998",
doi = "10.1016/S0146-0005(98)80034-7",
language = "English",
volume = "22",
pages = "189--197",
journal = "Seminars in Perinatology",
issn = "0146-0005",
publisher = "W.B. Saunders Ltd",
number = "3",
}