Eugenics and New Technologies of Reproduction

Francis Galton saw the significance of Walter Heape’s success in transferring embryos between rabbits in 1890. An article in the Eugenics Review in 1935 proposed using artificial insemination for eugenic purposes. Dubbed ‘eutelegenesis’, it was added to the Eugenics Society’s aims and objectives as a possible future policy in 1939. After the war, artificial insemination was often presented without eugenic connotations. Eutelegenesis is not practised in Britain. In vitro fertilization is a technique of assisted reproduction which additionally enables the modification of embryos. This raises the prospect of designer babies. It also happened to be developed by Eugenics Society member Robert Edwards and his colleague Patrick Steptoe. Gene therapy, prenatal diagnosis, surrogacy and cloning allow the substance of eugenics to return on an individual level. It is aided by the credo of reproductive choice since potential parents usually choose in conformity with eugenics. As well as considering the ‘new eugenics’, the chapter explains how the ‘old eugenics’ has been transformed in recent decades. Because eugenics was primarily a political ideology, the same points can be made without referring to heredity. In addition to this form of surreptitious eugenics, some ethicists openly advocate genetic enhancement today.