Ordinary ethics. Examining ethical work in the Argentine fertility clinic

Abstract

This article presents preliminary results of an exploratory study on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. PGD is a testing technique that allows to know aspects of the genetic constitution of the embryo before its implantation in the uterus, using assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). PGD has been the object of intense ethical controversy worldwide. Taking as a starting point the unexplored character of such controversy in the Global South, the article seeks to understand how ethics is dealt with in the Argentine PGD clinic. A central question the article tries to answer is: what is ethics in the context of Argentine PGD? And how is such ethics practiced? Data was taken from seven in-depth interviews with fertility practitioners in charge of providing PGD. Two areas of problematization are discussed in relation with the performance of PGD, one being uncertainty and the other medical authority and disciplinary boundaries. Based on these analyses, the article argues that the handling of ethics in the fertility clinic should be understood as a dynamic, constructive and open-ended process rather than as the implementation of previously formatted, a priori and transcendental bioethical principles.