The pre-conception welfare principle: a critical analysis

This article explores the functioning of the pre-conception welfare principle (PCWP) which is located at the core of the framework regulating human assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). First, it queries how the borders of child welfare have been defined by judge-made law in cases involving wrongful life or withholding/withdrawing treatment from severely sick children. Second, it conducts a chronological and comparative legislative assessment of the development of the regulation of child welfare in the context of the PCWP. It questions how the PCWP is applied in the regulation of ARTs and demonstrates the departure in practice from benchmark standards of objectivity, transparency and contextual-sensitivity that are identifiable in the judicial approach. This article concludes that the regulatory approach to assessing the PCWP is regressive. It is neither fair nor justified and hence, it should not be used