“The decision on whether to carry out PGD must not be about fixed disease states, but must focus on the individual situation of each couple or mother”, explained Ines Scheibe from the Executive Committee of the Humanist Association of Germany in a statement published on Thursday on the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Ordinance (PIDV) recently presented by the Federal Government.
With this ordinance, the Federal Government is fulfilling its obligation under the law to regulate the number and licensing requirements for preimplantation genetic diagnosis centers. The law regulating pre-implantation diagnostics was passed by the German Bundestag a year ago.
The statement reiterates doubts that the establishment of ethics committees would have been necessary at all: “We are convinced that the women and couples concerned are capable of making a responsible, informed and sustainable decision without an ethics committee.”
The statement therefore criticizes the fact that the costs for the commissions must be borne by the applicants for preimplantation genetic diagnosis. The HVD also demands that the social compatibility of the costs of applying for and carrying out PGD must be ensured by law. Social exclusion of those affected due to financial problems must be avoided.
Insofar as the establishment of ethics committees is now prescribed by law, it is also essential that the experts appointed to them also “reflect the moral, ideological, cultural and religious pluralism of our society”. For example, the experts to be appointed alongside experts from the field of medicine should not only be representatives of the churches.
It was welcomed that the wording of the “risk of a serious hereditary disease” and “serious damage that is highly likely to lead to a stillbirth or miscarriage” was not further specified in the proposed regulation. “In essence, it is always a highly individual and responsible decision for those affected,” says Scheibe.
As a result, the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Regulation now needs to be further qualified with regard to the points raised in the opinion.
Further information:
Statement by the Humanist Association Germany (HVD) on the German government’s Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Ordinance (PIDV) Act on the Regulation of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PräimG)
