Ethics

Ethics

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Ethics

Introduction

“The soul is healed by being with children”-Fyodor Dostoevsky. The desire for a child is genuine and almost every couple wants to have a child after marriage no matter what the cost. The under-study case discusses an American couple who wanted to have a child after having a happy married life. A complication occurred when the woman found that she had Huntington’s disease (HD) that would cost her her life in around 15-20 years. Additionally, they had another fear that the child might receive the symptoms of the disease from his mother. Fortunately, they found the solution to the second kind of fear in the form of Vitro Fertilization, and had a healthy child. It seems the development of Eugenics that people use the available technology to make their life happy. Some people might blame the mother for having a child despite being aware that she would die in around a score. We should also understand that mortality is companion to humanity and no one has a guaranteed life. Moreover, if the mother dies when the child is twenty years old, it might leave no serious effect upon the psyche of the child.

Eugenics and the Case Study

The practice or advocacy of improving the human species by selectively mating people with specific desirable hereditary traits is called Eugenics, and the couple’s action also seems an offshoot of this field of study as they choose a healthy child secure from certain fatal diseases like Huntington’s Disease and Cancer, etc. Letting parents choose the sex of the child they want to have is condemnable in Christianity as the religion considers it the prerogative of God to decide what he intends to give to the parents, but the American constitution does not condemn such practice as it allows the citizens to do what they want for their contentment. The same is encouraged by the national decree but discouraged by the religious decree. If one aspires to decide it by reason, the national decree also seems prone to ethics if the divine decree cannot be undermined that easily. Christianity does not allow humans to tamper with the natural rules of divinity that are supported by some segments of Judaism and Christianity (Beauchamp, 2001). They compare it to human cloning and condemn the act of choosing the child’s sex all the same. The state, however, does not react that hardly.

Giving birth to an offspring is not unethical even if the mother knows that she would die after a score of years. The only unethical thing would appear if the parents intentionally attempt to have a born-sick child. This can result in a painful life but if the child is safe, then the desire of that woman should be valued who is aware that she would start her journey towards death after shortly (Agar, 1998). The mentioned case reveals that both parents agreed to have the child despite knowing about HD. It shows that the father was ready to look after the child if the woman lost her fight with the disease (Black, 2003). If one parent is there to look after the child, there is nothing unethical in the couple’s urge to fulfill their desires.

Conclusion

The case discussed seems a kind of Eugenics where the human race attempts to improve the descendent generations using latest available technology. The couple had a child as they desired, but they did not act irresponsibly. They consulted the specialists and availed the latest technology to give birth to a healthy child. They chose the sex of the child which is apparently odd, but letting parents choose the sex of the child they want to have is not unethical if it does not harm anyone, however, there would occur the need for reconsideration of this free-choice if the practice becomes a norm.

References

Agar, N. (1998). Liberal eugenics. Public Affairs Quarterly, 12(2), 137-155.

Black, E. (2003). War against the weak: Eugenics and America's campaign to create a master race. New York.

Beauchamp, T. L. (2001). Philosophical ethics: An introduction to moral philosophy.