Fertility Clinic Case Summary

Improved Essays
A fertility clinic has been offering preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to test for early-onset genetic disorders that are serious. The embryos that are found to be free of any serious genetic abnormalities can then be selected to be implanted in the woman. There are two families requesting two different uses of PGD, one wants to use the testing to pick the embryos that would have a better memory and self-discipline, and the other is a deaf couple wanting to pick an embryo that has congenital deafness so the child can experience the world the same way they do. My recommendation for a policy to be put in place for the fertility clinic would be to continue the testing for serious early-onset genetic disorders but not add testing and selection …show more content…
Those who may have this objection believe that if we withhold the possibility of a better life or the possibility of a higher skill set we would be neglecting our children. In the reading, “Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings” by Julian Savulescu, Savulescu gives the case of Neglectful Parents who have a child born with amazing intellect but needs a simple, cheap dietary supplement to sustain the child’s intellect but the parents neglect the diet for their child and the child’s amazing intellect becomes normal(Savulescu, 820).The author here believes that the Neglectful Parents are wrong for preventing their child of something great. In the case of PGD testing, if we don’t chose the embryos with the best potential that the parents want then we are neglecting the future child. Utilitarianism is the principle that brings about the greatest amount of happiness(9). Utilitarians would say that being able to choose what you want your child to be would be the best way to bring about the most …show more content…
The children who don’t have any chosen traits would be disadvantaged throughout their lives because of the children who had their traits chosen for what their parents wanted in a child. The children without chosen traits would be at an unfair advantage to the children with chosen traits in school, work and life. “Most people with conditions such as spina bifida, achondroplasia, Down syndrome, and many other mobility and sensory impairments perceive themselves as healthy, not sick, and describe their conditions as givens of their lives--- the equipment with which they meet the world.” (Asch, 611) Asch wanted to know what individuals who have these kind of conditions felt or thought about themselves, if they felt like they were disabled in the world, and found many didn’t think of themselves any different. These people were not chosen to be born or avoided, they were given an equal chance and they feel they have a purpose in the world. The children who are chosen to be taller would become NBA players over the more average sized people, and the children who were chosen to have a better memory would do better in school and that would lead to them getting better jobs in the future over kids who were born without the chosen memory

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the case of Planned Parenthood of Southern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which was argued on April 22, 1992 and decided on June 29,1992, reviewed the various obligations and actions women along with young girls had to undergo in order to fully proceed an abortion. In the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, which was passed in 1898, required females to provide a type of consent in order to be taken in as a patient. According to the “Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation,” this meant that if the patient was a minor she must provide a written consent from at least one of the parents in which brought acknowledgment and approval with the minor’s decision in getting an abortion. The only way that a minor did not have to provide a consent for an abortion was if the judge decided that minor was capable enough to make decisions on her own. If the…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This is a newspaper article written in 2015 about the UK’s legalization of 3-parent IVF, the creation of a baby with three parents. Prior to the legalization of this technique, a zygote with defects in its mitochondria often caused the infant to suffer from conditions such as diabetes and deafness. This technique will allow a zygote to avoid such defects. This is essentially eugenics! While acknowledging eugenics’ dirty past, the article encourages people to rethink about this practice.…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The ethical issue that I feel everyone should be aware of states the morality of parents using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to achieve the same disability that they have. Parents use that process to select an embryo of a disability or a disease to acquire the same characteristic as the parents. In the case study Causing Deaf Children, a lesbian couple chose a sperm donor that was deaf to ensure that their child would also be deaf like they are. This is an ethical problem because most people would disagree that people should not create “designer babies,” and that babies should be born without any tests being done to see if they have a disability or to create a human just like the parents or family. There are even cases where people screen to see if they can choose what embryo is most likely to be disabled.…

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As “reading” our genomes becomes more available, I think each person should have complete privacy over their genetic information. It’s their personal information, and it’s their right to share it if they’d like, but no one else besides immediate family should have the right to use their genetic information. Immediate family should be allowed rights too, because it could be helpful in making important decisions or in emergencies. Employers and insurers should absolutely not be able to reject someone based on their genome. That would be purely discrimination, weather it saves them money or not.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Prenatal genetic sequencing is a scientific procedure that predicts the risk of developing an illness later in life, and/or shows potential traits such as athleticism and intelligence in an unborn child. These predictions of illness and potential traits come from analyzing fetal DNA found in a sample of the mother’s blood. A very important and main concern for prenatal genetic testing is for preparation of treatment for a predicted illness in a child. Also parents are often interested in these predictions simply for having an indication of what they are getting themselves into. Prenatal genetic testing is a rising topic in present ethical conflicts.…

    • 2208 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The term eugenics derives from the Greek language, eugenics translates to “good genes” in Greek. Eugenics is the controlling of the reproduction of a society to gain desirable traits or eliminate undesirable traits. Rawl’s Contract Theory refers to a social contract among the individuals involved for mutual advantage and follows principle in which everyone agrees to. Everyone must agree on a decision before the event occurs behind a “veil of ignorance.”…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction Eugenics has become somewhat of a buzzword in mainstream discussions of the topic. As with most buzzwords, it is overused to the point of overshadowing broader applications of the topic (For an example see Peter Singer on Animal Rights pp. 196-203). Notwithstanding, this paper will discuss heavily the topic of Eugenics, and more specifically Julian Savulescu’s stand on Eugenics and whether he believes in endorsing a program of eugenics. Savulescu’s opinion will be analyzed mostly by his work included in Munson pp.294.…

    • 1931 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While the idea of creating an artificial child may seem immoral, there are more advantages to designer babies than just eliminating disabilities. In addition to creating a fairer environment for all children, this procedure could also make them live longer with the discarding of disease causing genes. Furthermore, the newfound experience and data collected from this procedure could also help geneticists progress faster in their research in genetics. The operation could be also viewed as ethically accepted since some women take prenatal pills during pregnancy to ensure…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Enhancing Society at a Cost In recent years, scientists developed genetic engineering in animals. Gene modification enhances animals by increasing fertility, and allows the possibility of cloning. However, cloning and designing animals leads to the application of genetic modification in humans. In Dinesh D’Souza’s essay, “Staying Human,” he reveals the positive and negative effects of genetic engineering, but he affirms the unethical application of genetic engineering.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Genetic Enhancement

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In “Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings,” Julian Savulescu states that we are morally obligated to use genetic enhancement, specifically regarding our children. He argues this by proposing the idea that genetic enhancement is no different than environmental enhancements or treating disease in that they all breed the same result: improved wellbeing of those affected. Savulescu also discusses an objection to genetic enhancement on the grounds that it will lead to a split in society between those who are enhanced and those who are not, and those who are not will face discrimination. Although this is a valid objection, I am opposed to genetic enhancement because ultimately I believe that one cannot definitively prove…

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Preimplantation genetic diagnosis change the way of medical practice rapidly.[56]The main purpose of Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is to test embryos for couples with the hereditary condition before embryo transfer to avoid transmitting the genetic abnormality to their couples. [57] The couple must go through IVF procedures to grow embryos in vitro. The in vitro cultured embryos can be biopsied at different developmental stages either the zygote, cleavage or trophectoderm stage.[56, 58] Classical methods such as FISH technique and single cell PCR empowered PGD to Screen different hereditary disorder, in particular single gene disorders such as thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, in spite of several complications and limitations…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The purpose of PGD is to test for specific genetic disorders in order to avoid them when carrying out IVF. It is used to check for specific disorders before the embryo is implanted back into the mother so that only a normal and healthy child will be born; free from chromosomal issues that could impair his/her life. The demand for PGD has increased over recent years as it has become a serious option for couples with a family history of genetic disorders; a couple who already has an affected child; a couple who wants to increase their chances of having a successful pregnancy; HLA matching using a ‘saviour sibling’ and in small populations where small gene pools can lead to an increased frequency of…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Some believe that giving parents the option of genetically engineering their baby will result in eugenics driven by egoism. People might take advantage of germline manipulation by creating embryos that will be their own idea of what is perfect, thus objectifying and commodifying children. Some opposers even say that because these embryos will not have a say in whether they want to be modified or not, their rights will be taken away. Furthermore, regulating laws ensuring that genetic modification is used only for the correction of genuinely medical genetic conditions as opposed to enhancing a child’s appearance will be nearly impossible. Rich parents will use…

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    PGD can have some negative impacts on society if the process is used too frequently or for what I consider the wrong reasons. I believe that sometimes the use of PGD is unnecessary especially for gender selection which is available in some countries for example the United States, but thankfully it is illegal in New Zealand. In my opinion discarding other perfectly good embryos just so you can get the gender you want to ‘complete’ your family like what Nicola Trathen did is unethical. I also believe that using PGD for non-threatening disorders that don’t involve a shorten life-span is unnecessary for example Down-Syndrome. As Rebecca E. Kopp has addressed people who have down-syndrome are capable of having a rewarding and meaningful life.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Future for Human Genetics People have been around long enough to know that everything changes (for the better or worse). Within the past few years, there has been a lot of debate over the scientific breakthrough of being able to modify the human genome. Many doctors and scientists have welcomed the idea with open minds while others are hesitant to become involved. Some see the dangers involved with the process while others see the endless possibilities coming out of this revolutionary discovery.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays