“Who could deny it to them?” Analysing Artificial Amnion and Placenta Technology as a selective reproductive technology
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Artificial Amnion and Placenta Technology (AAPT) is designed to ensure the survival of extremely premature infants in an environment outside the body. This technology will change our understanding of fetal health by introducing new medical and technical means of optimising it. As a result, the criteria for identifying health deviations – and consequently, for selection decisions – are also being redefined. At the same time, liberal eugenic ideas are gaining influence, seeking to legitimise selective reproductive technologies from a moralphilosophical perspective. This article examines and critiques methodological approaches to liberal eugenics and discusses the link between selective practices and AAPT development. It highlights the influence of technologies on the development of needs and the ethical and political tensions that arise from possible limitations on therapy, the rights of pregnant people, and the expansion of selective practices through AAPT development. In order to discuss the extent to which AAPT could normalise and individualise selective and ableist practices, it is necessary to analyse the technology as a selective reproductive technology.
Author: Stefanie Weigold
Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415145155