This panel investigates the uses of epigenetic science in ethical, policy and public understandings of pregnancy and parenting to illuminate the roles that scientific evidence plays in the moralisation of procreation. Epigenetics is a particularly intriguing case study for this investigation because of the inherent ambiguity and ‘complex causality’ of epigenetic mechanisms.
Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes to DNA that affect gene expression but do not change the underlying genetic sequence. Epigenetic mechanisms are important in procreation because they help to explain the developmental origins of health and disease, both within single generations and potentially beyond.
The translation of epigenetics into bioethics, law and policy may have significant implications. It may make pregnancy more intensely individualised and moralised: it could be used to impose additional responsibilities on prospective parents and pregnant people. Conversely, it may foster recognition of biological plasticity, including a sense of pregnancy as a social phenomenon, responsibility for which is distributed and shared.
The papers in the panel include: (1) reporting on interviews with professionals involved in fertility and pregnancy care in in Australia to understand their perceptions of epigenetics; (2) a critical analysis of the mobilisation of scientific evidence in bioethical discussions of moral responsibility; (3) a discussion of ‘epigenetic responsibility’ in the context of vulnerability and social injustice; (4) reflection on what epigenetics might mean for social policy discussions relevant to antenatal care and intergenerational health.
Each paper will be 10-15 minutes long, with approx 30mins for discussion across the panel.