Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Journal

Harvard Journal of Law & Technology

DOI

10.2139/ssrn.4814475

PMID

41018046

PMCID

PMC12470075

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

9-27-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Polygenic embryo screening ("PES") analyzes embryos for hundreds or thousands of genomic loci to generate risk scores that estimate genetic susceptibility to conditions and traits compared to the general population. The technology is commercially marketed directly to consumers. Companies focus mostly on medical conditions, sometimes in ways that oversell its advantages and efficacy, encouraging fertility patients to "choose your healthiest embryo" and "protect your future child from genetic risks." The advertising of PES trades on norms of children's health and good parenting and reinforces those normative ideals. While it is easy to assume PES will be constrained in practice by its clinical limitations, high cost, and health burdens associated with in vitro fertilization, inflated marketing claims could exacerbate other legal and social forces to expand its use. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, over a dozen states have banned abortion, forcing some people to give birth to children they would not otherwise have had. Others who are denied the abortion choice may seek to recover this lost sense of agency over their reproductive lives in other ways. This article examines the risks of decision fatigue and choice overload that PES may create in prospective parents, and the distinctive challenges that PES poses for legal liability over matters of truth in advertising and informed consent.

Published Open-Access

yes

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.