Slippery slopes in the history of in vitro fertilisation and therapeutic cloning: the influence of ethical argument on the development of law and policy. (360G-Wellcome-075303_Z_04_A)

IVF and embryo research have been the subject of controversy for more than thirty years and have been attacked on the basis that allowing them is the beginning of a 'slippery slope' towards eugenics, state control of reproduction and reproductive cloning. Debates about these technologies have been characterised by fears of the 'uncontrollability' of science and the consequences of uncontrolled scientific development Robin Henig argues in her history of the reproductive revolution that many of the slipper slope ethical arguments initially raised against IVF are now being used against human cloning and genetic engineering. However, she points out that many of the predictions made in arguments have not occurred. This project will test this conclusion by examining the influence of slippery slope ethical arguments on the historical development of legislation regulating IVF - a technology that is now widely accepted - and therapeutic cloning technologies. The project will: Produce empirical findings on the influence of slippery slope arguments on policy development; Examine how slippery slope concerns in public and academic ethical discourses affect policy development; Compare the outcomes predicted in these arguments, with the actual outcomes of the development of these technologies to examine the concept of fallacy within slippery slope arguments; and Consider the ethical validity of resulting legislative measures given the actual outcomes.