Advances in technology related to genetic mapping and embryonic screening have raised several ethical dilemmas regarding the morality of parents choosing children based on certain characteristics. Screening for disability and sex is already occurring, and screening for other characteristics is not out of the question in the near future. The idea of “designer babies” is morally questionable for many people worried about “playing God” or causing problems at a broader, societal level. Based on the principles of parental virtue ethics and procreative beneficence, however, it is morally desirable for parents to select children with the best possible genetic endowment.
Rosalind McDougall offers a wonderful outline of the parental virtue ethics approach …show more content…
However, children with the best genetic endowments are most likely to flourish regardless of any given environment. Certainly, there will be some level of unpredictability throughout a child’s life that could affect specific characteristics; as McDougall states, a child could be “…blinded by an accident or made anaemic by the non-availability of particular foods” (603). In circumstances like these, the virtue of acceptance would take precedence because there is no genetic aspect of those characteristics. When full knowledge of a child’s genetic endowment is available, however, the virtue of genetic selection to ensure the flourishing of the child would come first. Rather than waiting for the child to be born and accepting them as they are—which is still a virtuous action—the parents could select children with the best possible genetic endowment prior to the child’s birth to maximize the chance that their child will survive and live a full, healthy life. In the case of genetic selection, acceptance should not be the prevailing virtue; rather, the virtuous parent would follow the principle of procreative beneficence and select children based on their genetic endowment to ensure that their child will
Rosalind McDougall offers a wonderful outline of the parental virtue ethics approach …show more content…
However, children with the best genetic endowments are most likely to flourish regardless of any given environment. Certainly, there will be some level of unpredictability throughout a child’s life that could affect specific characteristics; as McDougall states, a child could be “…blinded by an accident or made anaemic by the non-availability of particular foods” (603). In circumstances like these, the virtue of acceptance would take precedence because there is no genetic aspect of those characteristics. When full knowledge of a child’s genetic endowment is available, however, the virtue of genetic selection to ensure the flourishing of the child would come first. Rather than waiting for the child to be born and accepting them as they are—which is still a virtuous action—the parents could select children with the best possible genetic endowment prior to the child’s birth to maximize the chance that their child will survive and live a full, healthy life. In the case of genetic selection, acceptance should not be the prevailing virtue; rather, the virtuous parent would follow the principle of procreative beneficence and select children based on their genetic endowment to ensure that their child will