Donor Babies Case Study

The moral dilemma I have chosen to write about is Case 14, regarding the conception of “donor babies,” or infants conceived for the intentioned or expressed purpose of donating valuable bone marrow or tissue to a sibling. In such cases, doctors perform an amniocentesis procedure to determine if the fetus is a match, and if so, draw the needed marrow out using needles once the child is 14 months old. Advocates to this practice claim that “families love and cherish donor babies just as much as other babies,” while critics claim that “the practice of connecting donor babies will cheapen the perceived value of human life.” Undoubtedly, this is a case that raises some serious moral questions with varying opinions from both sides of the argument, …show more content…
On the one hand, if the parents were to tell their child, they could feel a sense of pride and heroism for taking part in a potentially life-saving operation on their siblings. On the other hand, if the parents were to tell their children, they could feel as if they had only been conceived for the purpose of their marrow and tissue being used in this operation, and therefore feel inferior or less of a human for this reason. On yet another hand, if the parents do not tell their child, they would live without the knowledge of such an incredible and unique connection between the two siblings. And on yet another hand, if the parents do not tell their child, and perhaps one day they discover the procedure took place, the weight of the lie they had been told their entire lives may be enough to seriously harm the familial relationship as a whole. At the end of the day, it is once again left up to the parents’ discretion, although personally I believe all parents should be truthful and outright on certain things that could possibly harm the child later in life, although they should be presented in a gradual manner when the child is mature enough to understand them: right time, right state of