Genetic Essentialisim and Embroy Identitiy.

This is a difficult position to defend, even from a standpoint to embryonic identity. However this situation only worsens when we begin to consider things other than embryo’s. It seems difficult to suggest that a persons identity is constituted by his genome and whenever there is a mutation or alteration in it occurs then his identity changes. This seems strange, if this was the case then our identity would change regularly, I would not be the same person on a regular basis. Admittedly Zohars attempts to limit his claims to embryo’s but even here there appears to be problems. Yes he is right in that if a small portion of genetic material is changed or mutated from one moment to the next with and embryo that the embryo’s are no longer strictly identical, in the sense that everything about them is the same. Almost everything about them is identical to what it was previously, they are continuous spatio-temporally and are still perform the same functions as they did previously.As with persons changes, even some quite radical changes, such as the loss of limbs or sight do not by themselves change a persons identity from what it was previously.

Genetic interventions that should overturn this right as a general principle..

This is the correct interpretation of the situation because it holds up the rights of individuals with respect to choice in relation to the type of childbirth they wish to have. If parents wish to have as little medical intervention as is possible then this is a choice that they as autonomous persons have currently and there is nothing specific about genetic interventions that should overturn this right as a general principle. On the other hand this interpretation also respects rights of children to open futures. This is particularly evident in the situation with respect to IVF technologies where these rights should override the more general right the parents possess to choose the level of medical intervention, even though in the situation above it appears to be matter of chance as to whether or not IVF technologies are necessary.