Sociocultural aspects of preconception genetic testing

Abstract

Preconception genetic testing for carrier diseases (PGT(C)) became a noticeable sociocultural phenomenon that raised various ethical issues with the individual and society. The issue of informing patients about the risks of giving birth to children with genetic abnormalities includes a range of questions about the probabilistic nature of genetic data, determinism, and cost and quality of medical and genetic counseling. Preventive tasks of genetics inevitably raise a question about the borders of a patient’s autonomy and mutual responsibility of the individual and society. In this article, ethical and philosophical analysis of sociocultural aspects of PGT(C) has been presented, including neoeugenic prevention traits, hubris and genetic fatalism.