Abstract
This study examines the regulation of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in Germany. PGD, an assisted reproductive technology (ART), was invented in the 1980s and involves testing human embryonic cells for genetic issues as part of in-vitro fertilization treatments. This study examines the regulatory history of PGD in Germany, which instituted one of the most restrictive ART policies in the world, including federal laws outlawing PGD to protect human embryos from scientific and medical harm. The German policy case includes a federal court of justice case involving a fertility doctor who turned himself in to the police to disclose that he had violated existing law. The court’s decision necessitated a parliamentary revision of federal law allowing PGD under certain circumstances. The analysis of PGD regulation in Germany concludes that the policy process was marked in three important ways: First, it was marked by the institutionalized legal power of the German judiciary branch to change laws; second, it was shaped by existing legal frameworks in Germany regulating human reproduction that defined the status of a human embryo; and third, it was impacted by the German institutional guarantee that members of parliament may vote at times based on their personal and moral beliefs not bound by their political party’s position on a matter. This is of importance because ART policy making involves questions surrounding the legal status of a human embryo and because Germany’s political party system includes two Christian-based political parties that were in power for almost two-thirds of Germany’s postwar government.
Presenters
Sandra ReinekeAssociate Professor of Political Science and Director of the University Honors Program, Department of Politics and Philosophy, University of Idaho, Idaho, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Public Health Policies and Practices
KEYWORDS
Public Health Policy, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis, Biopolitics
