Preserving children's fertility: two tales about children's right to an open future and the margins of parental obligations

Daniela Cutas*, Kristien Hens

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The sources, extent and margins of parental obligations in taking decisions regarding their children's medical care are subjects of ongoing debates. Balancing children's immediate welfare with keeping their future open is a delicate task. In this paper, we briefly present two examples of situations in which parents may be confronted with the choice of whether to authorise or demand non-therapeutic interventions on their children for the purpose of fertility preservation. The first example is that of children facing cancer treatment, and the second of children with Klinefelter syndrome. We argue that, whereas decisions of whether to preserve fertility may be prima facie within the limits of parental discretion, the right to an open future does not straightforwardly put parents under an obligation to take actions that would detect or relieve future infertility in their children-and indeed in some cases taking such actions is problematic.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)253-260
JournalMedicine Health Care and Philosophy
Volume18
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2015

Keywords

  • Fertility
  • Klinefelter syndrome
  • Cancer
  • Right to an open future
  • Right to genetic privacy
  • Screening
  • Fertility preservation

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