Is there a “Moral Obligation to Create Children with the Best Chance of the Best Life”?

Abstract

In this article, I critically deal with Savulescu’s suggestion that human beings have a “moral obligation to create children with the best chance of the best life” (Savulescu & Kahane, The Moral Obligation to Create Children with the Best Chance of the Best Life, Bioethics, 23 (5), p. 274). I progress as follows. In part one, I will briefly describe the procedures with which Savulescu is concerned, and I will present Savulescu’s argument in favour of the principle of procreative beneficence which is the basis of his argumentation in favour of the aforementioned moral obligation. In part two, I will show that the principle is inconsistent and that it violently attacks human beings who disagree with it which is the reason why I regard it as an immoral principle. In the conclusion, I will put forward some reasons for regarding the principle of procreative autonomy as morally more plausible than Savulescu’s principle of procreative beneficence concerning the questions he deals with.