Is what is illegal also unethical? An analysis of Turkish law regarding assisted reproduction and genetic engineering

Abstract

The development in biotechnology is enormous and legal systems try to find their way in a field they barely know or understand. The concepts of family, filiation or reproduction are not what they used to be. With the use of new technologies, a man and/or a woman can have an offspring without even having a partner. They can choose to have a girl or a boy. They can choose to have a healthy child who doesn’t inherit their genetic defects, etc. Many people can’t conceive in a „natural“ way because of personal, biological or genetic challenges and wanting to have a child is so powerful that these people will go to any length and ordeal to achieve their dream. This is where the legal system comes into play with many questions along with ethical challenges. Should we let people have what they want in order to have a family? What about filiation? Can we keep the embryos forever? Who has the right over them? Can the father or the mother change their mind before the implantation? There are many other questions left to be answered. Though the reproduction technologies used in Turkey are state of the art, Turkish law is quite restrictive on these matters mostly on the basis of public order. A restrictive system may only seemingly solve some of these legal problems while it creates others as there would always be a more liberal country where people can go and have the procedure. What will happen then?