Absolute Goods: Goods that one would want to have even if everyone else were to have them. An example of this is immunity to disease. Most goods are a mix of absolute and positional.
Active Registry: A sperm donor registry that contacts the child at the requisite age to inform the child that he or she was donor-conceived, and to provide the child with information about his or her donor.
Adamantium: A fictional metal alloy that is used in the Marvel comic books to enhance the strength of Wolverine's skeleton, giving him unbreakable strength. A hypothetical injection of such a substance is an example of a human enhancement.
Affective Forecasting: The prediction of one’s future emotional state. Some argue that humans are generally bad at this, often failing to accurately predict how they will feel about something in the future.
Altering Rule: A rule that changes a situation in a way which makes the default rule not apply. For example, if there is a default rule that A cannot park in B’s parking spot, an altering rule might be a contract by which A and B agree that A may park in B’s parking spot under certain circumstances
Anti-Contractualist: Objections to surrogacy based on the validity of the contractual arrangement. These objections are based on the premise that the contract is invalid for some reason or another – for instance, that the surrogate lacked the ability to consent, or was otherwise coerced into signing the contract.
Best Interest of the Resulting Child (BIRC): A theory of argumentation which relies on the welfare of the child produced to justify policies and regulations. For example, an argument that unwed parents should not reproduce because of the possible negative effects it may have on the child relies upon BIRC reasoning.
Breach: Failure to perform a legal duty owed to another. For example, if a doctor is legally required to inform patients of the risks of a medical procedure, but does not, that constitutes a breach of that duty. This can also refer to the failure to perform a contractual obligation (i.e., "she breached the contract).
Cause of Action: A claim of wrongdoing which a court of law recognizes. In other words, a cause of action is a legally recognized legal theory on which one can bring a case. For example, if A hits B, B has a cause of action of battery against A, because hitting is a wrongdoing courts of law recognize as sufficient to bring a suit for battery.
Chimera: An individual composed of cells with different embryonic origins. For example, a mouse that was genetically engineered to grow a human ear on its back would be a chimera.
Coercion: Forcing a party into an adverse or unfair transaction by taking advantage of that party’s situation. For the purposes of our course this expression is used to refer to forcing lower-income parties into adverse or unfair transactions by taking advantage of their economic need — the parties have no reasonable alternatives to the transactions in light of their financial situation.
Consequentialist Corruption: The degradation of a societal value that occurs when our attitudes or sensibilities change in response to allowing a particular practice — for example, a consequentialist corruption argument against prostitution or surrogacy might be that going forward we would begin to regard each other as objects with prices rather than as persons (Week 1).
Consequentialist Corruption: The argument that intervention is justified when the changes that would occur to our attitudes or sensibilities (aka the consequences) are undesirable. In the human enhancement context, this justifies intervention when enhancement tends to make parents view their children as products, an undesirable consequence (Week 6).
Contract: A written or spoken agreement that is intended by both parties to be enforceable by law. Contracts must be negotiations; that is, both parties must give something, be it money or a service. Offers for gratuitous gifts are not ordinarily enforceable.
Corruption: The alteration or denigration of a societal conception or value. For example, some argue that commoditizing organs has a corrupting influence by denigrating the value or special significance society gives to human organs by treating them like a consumer good.
CRISPR/CAS9: Developed at Harvard and MIT, CRISPR/CAS9 are technologies used to edit the human genome. Their potential for use in genetic enhancements has raised ethical concerns.
Crowding Out: The idea that allowing the sale of a good will decrease the supply of the good in some way. In the context of organ selling, the most common crowding out concern is that allowing organ sales will decrease the number of altruistically donated organs.
Damages: The monetary award paid by the liable party in compensation for the harm done to the injured party in a civil lawsuit.
Default Rule: A rule that applies unless the parties explicitly decide that a different rule should apply in its place. Meaning, the rule automatically fills in the "blanks," but can be overridden. For example, the default rule is that the genetic father is the legal father of a child, but parties may in some circumstances be able to contract around the default rule and make someone who is not the genetic father the legal father (Week 4).
Deterrence: The use of threatened punishment to discourage individuals from taking an undesired action. Deterrence is one of the reasons some crimes result in severe sentences; the hope is that the harsh punishment will lead some to opt not to commit the crime.
Duty: A legal obligation owed by one party to another. For example, if a doctor is legally required to inform patients of the risks of a medical procedure, that constitutes a duty.
Enhancement: Human enhancement is any attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body. Enhancement may be biological, or like Google Glasses, may not be biological at all. Within the biological category, the enhancement may be genetic (meaning, accomplished through some manipulation of the human's genetic code) or non-genetic (for example, using Ritalin).
Eugenics: The idea that certain genetic traits are more valuable than others, and should be selective for to improve the gene pool.
Ex Ante: Before the event. For example, what a surrogate wanted before she became pregnant.
Ex Post: After the fact. For example, what a surrogate wanted after she became pregnant of delivered the baby.
Exploitation: The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often through an unfair transaction. It comes in mutually beneficial and harmful varieties. For example, if A is having an allergic reaction, and B has an EpiPen (a necessary, often life-saving treatment for allergic reactions), it would be exploitation for B to sell the EpiPen to A for $1,000,000, because B is benefiting by taking advantage of A’s situation, forcing A into a transaction A would not otherwise accept.
Extraterritoriality: The extension of a sovereign jurisdiction’s laws beyond its territorial borders.
Genetic Parenthood: The people whose sperm and egg were used to create the embryo that later becomes the child. The genetic parent may be a legal and gestational parent, but they also may not be (for example, an anonymous sperm donor who has surrendered all legal rights to the child).
Gestational Parenthood: The person (really, the mother) who carried and gave birth to the child. A gestational parent may be the legal and/or genetic parent, but they also may not be (for example, a gestational surrogate who lacks a genetic connection to the child and and has surrendered parental rights).
Gestational Surrogacy: A surrogacy arrangement in which the surrogate does not contribute an egg to the embryo. Rather, the surrogate is implanted with a fertilized embryo and shares no genetic connection to the child that is born. Gestational surrogacy always requires the aid of a medical professional.
Harmful Exploitation: The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often through an unfair transaction, when the other party is worse off after the interaction.
Identity Release: A sperm donor arrangement in which the donor provides his information to a registry that the child can then access (sometimes only when they turn 18). This is in contrast to anonymous sperm donor arrangements, in which the children do not have access to the donor's identity.
In re: Baby M: A 1988 case in which Mary Beth Whitehead, a traditional surrogate, tried to keep the child, Baby M, despite her surrogacy contract with the genetic father and the intended mother (the Sterns). The New Jersey court invalidated the surrogacy contract, ruling it invalid for public policy, and made Ms. Whitehead Baby M's legal mother. A different court later awarded custody to Mr. Stern using a "best interests of the child" analysis. This result stands in contrast to Johnson v. Calvert, in which the California court found surrogacy contracts to be valid.
Intended Parents: The parents who it is intended by the parties to rear the child. For example, in surrogacy the genetic parents typically are the intended parents, since surrogacy is undertaken with the idea that they will be the ultimate parents.
Intentional Diminishment: Positively selecting embryos through preimplantation genetic testing that have a trait which most would parents would not select for, such as deafness.
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI): An in-vitro fertilization procedure in which one sperm is directly injected into a single egg to fertilize it.
Intrinsic Corruption: Under this conception of corruption, an intervention is justified when there is an inherent incompatibility between the object and the way we evaluate it; meaning, the wrongfulness of an action is completed at the moment the action is, regardless of the consequences. For example, this view supports intervention regardless of whether human enhancement produces undesirable consequences.
Inviolability: A status given to an entity such that it is impermissible to kill or harm it without a justifying reason.
Johnson v. Calvert: A 1993 case in which Anna Johnson agreed to act as a gestational surrogate to a married couple, Mark and Crispina Calvert. Johnson agreed be implanted with an embryo formed from the Calverts' sperm and egg. After giving birth, Johnson threatened to keep the baby unless she was paid, leading the Calverts to ask the court for a declaration of their legal parenthood. The California Supreme Court ruled that the surrogacy contract was valid, and that although Johnson carried the child, Mrs. Calvert was its natural mother, as she had intended to raise the child. This result may be contrasted to the one in In re: Baby M, in which the New Jersey court invalidated a surrogacy contract.
Justified Paternalism: The justified interference by the state or an individual in another’s decision making, generally justified by framing the intervention as protecting the individual from making the wrong decision. For example, a law forbidding placing children up for adoption on the grounds that the birth parents will later regret the decision could be construed as justified paternalism.
Kaldor Hicks Efficiency: When one party benefits from a change in the status quo, and other parties that are potentially made worse off by that decision can be compensated to the extent they’ve been made worse off in order to be made whole. The gains are larger than the losses, but the distribution of winners and losers may change.
Legal Parenthood: The people who are recognized by the law as a child's parents. A legal parent may be the gestational and/or genetic parent, but they also may not be (for example, someone who adopts a child is a legal but not genetic or gestational parent).
Liability: Legal responsibility. Someone is liable for a harm suffered by a party when he or she is legally and financially responsible for that harm.
Libertarian Paternalism: The idea that public or private institutions could nudge people in ways that would make their lives better, without actually limiting the freedom of choice. In the enhancement context, this could take the form of requiring people to go through counseling before undergoing an enhancement, but not actually banning enhancement.
Life Not Worth Living: A life not worth living is a life so full of suffering that non-existence would be preferable. Traditionally, only those with the most devastating illnesses, such as Tay-Sachs Disease or Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, are considered to have lives not worth living, and even those cases are controversial.
Majoritarian Default Rule: Setting a default rule that the majority of parties would select were they to be asked.
Mutually Advantageous Exploitation: The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often through an unfair transaction, when the other party is not left worse off after the interaction, but the benefits of the interaction were allocated unfairly to the exploiting party.
Negative Selection: The screening out of adverse genetic disorders after preimplantation genetic testing. For example, if A and B test the embryos they plan to use for IVF, and proceed to not use any of the embryos identified as having a genetic disorder, that would be negative selection.
Non-identity Problem: The idea that individuals are not made worse off by being born unless they can be said to have a life not worth living. According to the non-identity problem, one cannot be said to harm a child by bringing it into existence and thereby justify interventions that would lead to that child never being born in the first place, unless the child’s life would be so bad it would not be worth living.
Parens Patriae: Latin for "parent of the nation." This refers to the state's power to intervene on the behalf of a child when their legal parent is negligent, abusive, or in other ways inadequate.
Pareto Efficiency: When one party benefits from a decision, but other parties are not made worse off by that decision.
Passive Registry: A sperm donor registry that makes identifying information available to the resulting child about his or her donor, but only if the child requests it at the requisite age.
Penalty Default: A default rule that the more informed party would not want to be a part of the contract– meaning, there is an automatic penalty unless the parties contract around it. For example, if we make the default rule that sperm donors are the legal parents, that imposes a penalty on sperm donors that they would not want and forces them to contract around the penalty (i.e. have a contract that specifies that they are not the legal father).
Positional Goods: Goods that are desirable to have because others lack them. Being tall is an example of such a trait– indeed, tallness is defined by others' absence of height. Most goods are a mix of absolute and positional.
Positive Selection: The use of preimplantation genetic testing to identify and use embryos for in-vitro fertilization that have a specific trait the parents deem desirable. For example, if A and B want a child with blue eyes, and test the embryos they plan to use for IVF for the gene for blue eyes, using only those embryos which carry that gene, that would be positive selection.
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD): A test used to screen embryos created for in-vitro fertilization for chromosomal abnormalities and other hereditary genetic disorders.
Reductio Ad Absurdum: A form of argumentation by which one attempts to establish that an argument is true by showing that alternative arguments lead to untenable, absurd results, or in turn to establish that an argument is false by showing that it produces untenable, absurd results.
Remedy: The means by which a court of law resolves a civil dispute, often through imposition of a penalty, or enforcement of a right. If A is successful in a civil suit against B, and the court requires B to pay A, and that payment is the remedy.
Rules and Standards: Rules are more likely to give clear and definite answers and are easy to apply. For example, "Shopkeepers must destroy all blue dresses" is a rule, because it defines an unambiguous course of conduct. Standards, on the other hand, are more vague, leaving room for discretion in application. "Shopkeepers must destroy all dresses that are likely to offend someone" is a standard, because it leaves room for shopkeepers to decide what might offend someone.
Selective Reduction: The termination of excess pregnancies after IVF. Often done when parents only want one or two children, but three or four embryos successfully implant.
Speciesism: To discriminate against an entity — to afford it fewer rights or a lesser degree of dignity — simply because that entity is not a member of the species Homo sapiens.
Stare Decisis: Also called "precedent," stare decisis is Latin for "to stand by a decision." Stare decisis is the doctrine that compels courts to follow prior decisions from other courts dealing with the same or similar question of law or fact. When we say a court is following precedent, we mean that another, different court has dealt with a similar question, compelling this court to follow the same reasoning.
Status Quo Bias: Status quo bias is a psychological phenomenon in which people overvalue or prefer the current state of affairs in relation to other possible states of affairs.
Surrogate: A surrogate is a woman who carries a pregnancy for another woman.
Sword of Damocles: The sword of Damocles is a cultural reference alluding to the tale of Damocles and King Dionysius — representing the immense danger felt by those with power.
Tort: A wrongful act or infringement of a legal right that leads to civil legal liability. Examples of torts include assault, trespass, and defamation.
Traditional Surrogacy: A surrogacy arrangement in which the surrogate contributes an egg to the embryo. The surrogate is artificially inseminated by the intended father or a sperm donor, and is therefore the genetic mother of the resulting child. Traditional surrogacy may be accomplished with the aid of a medical professional, but does not require it.
Treatment: Treatments address disease or disability, that is, they return people to being well. Enhancements make people better than well. The distinction between the two can often be fuzzy- for example, a drug that makes an abnormally short child grow to a normal height could be classified as a treatment, as it helps him achieve the baseline human height, or as an enhancement, since it changes his own personal baseline.
Undue Inducement: Proposing an offer that is “too good to refuse” — an offer that, in light of the other party’s situation, is so good that the other party’s sense of autonomy is undermined, because they feel substantial pressure to accept.
Unfair Distribution: The unequal distribution of resources across society — often involving the disproportionate allocation of resources towards the wealthy and away from lower socioeconomic groups.
Wrongful Birth: A negligence-based tort claim brought against a doctor by the parents when a child is born with an illness about which the doctor could or should have warned the parents.
Wrongful Life: A negligence-based tort claim brought against a doctor by the child him or herself when a child is born with an illness about which the doctor could or should have warned the parents.
Wrongful Pregnancy: A negligence-based tort claim brought by parents when, due to the doctor’s alleged negligence, the parents have a child who is born healthy but who is one the parents sought to avoid having.
Xenotransplantation: The practice of transplanting from a member of one species to a member of another.