Is Three a Crowd?

Abstract

Reproduction is a practice that has remained unchanged from the dawn of humanity until late in the end of the 20th Century. New reproductive technologies have now called into question what constitutes “reproduction”. In response to the usage of human germline modification technology abroad, the United States passed an effective ban on human germline modification technology. Due to a lack of scholarship or prior case law on the constitutional status of human germline modification, this Article will demonstrate that a modern definition of reproduction includes human germline modification. Therefore, limitations on this form of reproduction implicate the fundamental right of procreative freedom and call strict scrutiny into play. Furthermore, the Article will conclude that a total ban on human germline modification cannot survive a strict scrutiny analysis, and therefore is unconstitutional.