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21 Stan. Tech. L. Rev. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/stantlr21 and id is 1 raw text is: 











                 COUNSELING AFTER CRISPR


                               Bret   D. Asbury


                     CITE  AS: 21 STAN. TECH. L. REV. 1 (2018)


                                    ABSTRACT

     This Article explores the implications of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
Palindromic  Repeats (CRISPR)  gene editing and  its emergent ability to treat human
diseases by altering prenatal DNA. After surveying  current scientific capabilities, this
Article narrows its scope to focus on how this rapidly evolving technique will impact
prenatal genetic counseling, an area in which  there has been both federal and  state
legislation in recent years and one in which the most spirited debates relating to human
genome   editing are likely to emerge. W/hereas recent scholarly debates surrounding
prenatal genetic counseling have addressed how genetic counselors can and should assist
potential parents in deciding whether to bring genetically anomalous fetuses to term, the
arrival of CRISPR-a  relatively simple and cost-effective method of editing genomes that
has the potential to mitigate or eliminate many fetal genetic abnormalities-presents a
new  set of questions for prenatal genetic counselors.
    As  CRISPR's  ability to alter human genomes expands and becomes more  refined, a
number  of ethical, financial, and regulatory challenges will emerge. This Article describes
these novel challenges and sets forth a framework for how prenatal genetic counseling can
best meet them. In doing  so, it focuses on three questions. First, under what medical
circumstances might  it be appropriate for a prenatal genetic counselor to raise the
possibility of a genetic intervention? Second, what role, if any, should state and federal
legislation play in promoting awareness of genetic interventions? Third, to what extent
might  it be appropriate medically, ethically, and financially to subsidize access to gene
therapy?






'Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Associate Professor, Drexel University Thomas R.
Kline School of Law. A.B., Princeton University, J.D., Yale Law School. The author would like
to thank Lauren McGinley and Conor McCabe for superb research assistance, Kevin Woodson
and the participants in the 2017 John Mercer Langston Writing Workshop for helpful and in-
sightful comments, and the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and Deans Rog-
er Dennis and Dan Filler for their generous research support.


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