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47 Clev. St. L. Rev. 61 (1999)
Gene Therapy: Legal and Ethical Issues for Pregnant Women

handle is hein.journals/clevslr47 and id is 71 raw text is: GENE THERAPY: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES FOR PREGNANT WOMEN ANGELA LIANG' I. AN OVERVIEW OF GENE THERAPY ..................................... 63 II. COURT ORDERED PRENATAL INTERVENTIONS .................... 65 III. REASONS NOT TO MANDATE GENE THERAPY IN UTERO ....... 71 A. An Unconstitutional Burden on Women .................... 71 B. The Discriminatory Impact and Treatment of Involuntary Gene Therapy on Pregnant Women. Race, Gender, and Socio-economic Status ........................................................................ . . 77 1. R ace ................................................................... 77 2. G ender ................................................................. 78 3. Socio-Economic Status ...................................... 80 C. Public Policy: The Impossible Ethical Dilemmas Involved in Determining Which Abnormalities Should be Fixed ..................................................... 81 V I. C ONCLUSION ....................................................................... 84 The possibility of eliminating birth defects, genetic diseases, and disabilities through gene therapy in utero seems incredible. Yet the Human Genome Project, a federally-funded project that will map and sequence all 50,000 to 100,000 genes in each human cell,2 will undoubtedly increase our knowledge of human genetics and hopefully lead to the cure of many devastating diseases. Biotechnological advances in gene therapy have already treated thousands of patients.' By 1994, 2,000 to 3,000 genetic diseases that will likely respond to gene therapy had been identified. 1JD: University of Maryland School of Law, 1999; BA: University of California at Berkeley, 1992. The author is currently a law clerk for Judge Andrew L. Sonner of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. The views expressed herein are those of the author only. 2See Lori B. Andrews, Past as Prologue: Sobering Thoughts on Genetic Enthusiasm, 27 SETON HALL L. REV. 893, 898 (1997). 3Rick Weiss & Deborah Nelson, Teen Dies Undergoing Experimental Gene Therapy, WASH. POST at AI (Sept. 29, 1999). 4See Julia Walsh, Reproductive Rights and The Human Genome Project. 4 S. CAL. REV. L. & WOMEN'S STUD. 145, 150 n.26 (1994) (quoting Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Cong., Pub. No. OTA-BP-BA-32, Human Gene Therapy -- Background Paper 1 (1984)). [G]ene therapy is available in conjunction with the [prenatal] diagnosis, as in the case of Rh incompatibility .... In some cases, blood transfusions were performed to treat Rh incompatibility. ROBERT BLANK & JANNA C. MERRICK, HUMAN REPRODUCTION, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, AND CONFLICTING RIGHTS 141 (1995). Furthermore, the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee recently gave approval for experimental gene therapy of cystic fibrosis patients. Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder which usually manifests

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