Regulating Autonomy

The chapters in this volume explore, with reference to specific examples, the nature and limits of individual autonomy in law, policy and the work of regulatory agencies. Authors ask searching questions about the nature and scope of the regulation of 'private' lives, from intimacies, personal relationships and domestic lives to reproduction. They question the extent to which the law does, or should, protect individual autonomy in those areas. In recent decades, rapid advances in the development of new technologies-particularly those concerned with human genetics and assisted reproduction-have generated new questions (practical, social, legal and ethical) about how far the state should intervene in individual decision-making in these areas. Is there an inevitable tension between individual liberty and the common good? How might a workable balance between the public and the private be struck? How, indeed, should we think about 'autonomy'? This book is concerned with the main areas of personal life where the boundaries and limits to individual autonomy are drawn: in our intimate and domestic relationships, our sexualities, and reproduction. These essays explore the different kinds of arguments used to create and maintain those boundaries-including, for example, the protection of the vulnerable, public goods of various kinds, and the maintenance of tradition and respect for cultural practices. Individual authors address, in relation to their own chosen field, issues of where and how the boundaries around private life should be drawn, and how those boundaries are maintained and interventions justified. How are the contemporary ethical debates about autonomy constructed, and what principles do they embody? What happens when those principles become manifest in law? The chapters in this book each address aspects of these broad questions, in the context of specific contemporary debates around sexualities, reproduction and family relationships. These debates are driven by conflicts over ethical principles and changing cultural practices, as well as new dilemmas posed by technological advances.