Autonomy, Interdependence of Care Argument and the Moral Justification of Human Genome Editing (HGE)

The debate about the ethics of human genome editing (HGE) is common among bioethicists, religious scholars, physicians inter alia. One of the major problems has been how to justify HGE by including considerations about human dignity. This is because HGE has the potential to reinforce and violate human dignity and equality. In this paper, we aim to argue that HGE can be morally justified without the violation of human dignity and equality. In doing this, the autonomy and interdependence of the care argument will be deployed to demonstrate the moral justification of HGE for therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes. The paper will conclude that HGE can be successfully justified through autonomy and interdependence of care arguments without violating human dignity and equality.