Bioethics: Embryonic screening

[Luv'sTink]

I think for diagnosis purposes that it is great. As for gender that is getting sticky, eye color no.

This thread is gonna get ugly

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

I agree,LuvsTink. Which is why I am stepping away now. I don't think I should have to defend my point of view. I hear "Well, we really wanted a boy and we got a girl" (or vice versa) all the time. I don't see why what I said about wanting all boys and learning to deal with having a girl (if I had one) is so different.

Pass the salt, please.

TOV

 

[yeartolate]

I just don't like the idea of having girls. Why is that so wrong, yeartolate?

TOV

If you said you had a preference for a boy or a girl, fine. But you cross a barrier when you indicate you would have to learn to deal with a baby girl if you had one. Unconditional love should not be something a mother has to learn to deal with or acquire.

 

[Galahad]

I just don't like the idea of having girls. Why is that so wrong, yeartolate?

TOV

What if someone just doesn't like the idea of having a red head? What if a mixed race couple just doesn't like the idea of the child favoring the characteristics of one parent or the other? Should we just screen for those too?

 

[Kimmie5870]

Ok this is a serious subject for so early in the morning so bear with my writing please.

I don't see anything wrong with wanting a boy/girl.It's when people start playing with genetics that I have a problem.




My question is...if you are dead set against having a girl how do you know that you will come to love her unconditionally and won't play favorites between daughter and son?

If someone feels that strongly about having only a boy,there is a good chance that the girl child would be resented.My step moms best friend is a perfect example of that,her 16 yr.old girl now lives with grandparents because mom favored her older brothers over her to the point of mental abuse

 

[goofygirl]

Doing it to save a life or to prevent a disease/serious defect- sure why not?


But doing it to get the "right" gender, eye color, hair, skin, etc makes me think of a "master race" and the book/movie "Boys From Brazil".

 

[goodeats]

From my TTC friends I've heard that you can try to naturally select the sex depending on the day you have sex around ovulation since boy sperm is faster and shorter living than the girl sperm that is slower and longer living. It doesn't work 100% of the time of course, but I've heard that it is statistically prevalent. So if people can do it naturally, I don't have a problem with people paying for it. Now if people were aborting the baby just because of the gender that is something I have a huge problem with.

Personally I would prefer just girls, but I would love a boy too.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

tempting.........but morally wrong.

 

[bicker]

I think the critical aspect of this issue is that we all need to be able to make these decisions for ourselves, without governmental or societal intervention. As we can see from this discussion, reasonable people disagree, so the worst crime that can occur is for Side A to seek to force Side B to live in accordance with Side A's beliefs. That would be morally reprehensible IMHO. Each person should be held accountable to their own beliefs, and should be able to live in accordance with their own beliefs.

 

[va32h]

If we ever decide to have another child (and right now, we're not sure about that) and it turns out to be a girl, I will learn to deal with that and love her unconditionally just like I do DS. But I will really be praying for another boy. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Let's remember DISers - TOV loathed children before she had a child of her own, so it is theoretically possible that she could come to love a daughter, too.

In my experience, mothers who only want boys are pathological narcissists who cannot bear the thought of another female in their household receiving attention.

But hey, pray away. I am sure any potential daughter of yours would thank you for it.

 

[AKLRULZ]

Because I'm pro-life, the biggest issue I have personally with embryonic screening is what do you do with embryos that are not wanted (I know the answer)? I see nothing morally wrong with desiring boys only or any of the scenarios presented, however.

 

[Disney Doll]

I think one starts down a slippery slope when one starts designing babies to meet certain specifications.

 

[yeartolate]

I think one starts down a slippery slope when one starts designing babies to meet certain specifications.

I agree....

but no particular reason for asking......


Is there a gene that is responsible for putting the toilet seat down?

 

[katerkat]

I would do it if I could order a child that looks like me. It's not fair that I had to deal with being pregnant and everything and then the boy looks exactly like my husband and my father.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

katerkat--I know what you mean. DS only looks like me when he cries.

TOV

 

[Caradana]

Let's not forget that this is just another interpretation of the conversations our mothers and grandmothers had about the birth control pill. "It's not right to play God," so on, so forth ... it's clear to me that culture will evolve to accept just about every kind of genetic engineering we come up with over the long term.

Today it's generally really painful and invasive to use these IUI and IVF procedures. That serves as a deterrent and we wind up avoiding the moral conversation.

I think God put me on this earth to make the best of what he gave me, science being a significant component of that. I'd absolutely genetically engineer if it was less invasive and less expensive than it is today. I'd love to have twins. I envy the closeness that they share. Is it wrong to implant more embryos to have twins? Is that somehow not God's will? No way. I feel like St. Peter probably has a special blessing for reproductive endocrinologists and nurses.

 

[bicker]

Because I'm pro-life, the biggest issue I have personally with embryonic screening is what do you do with embryos that are not wanted (I know the answer)?

How about you take 'em?

Despite having just make a joke out of it, I actually do, seriously, feel that anyone concerned about that really should take responsibility for them. Let each personal live in accordance with their own beliefs.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

But what if a couple (like DH and myself) only want children of one gender? Are you saying they shouldn't have any at all?

TOV

Yep!

You shouldn't legally be entitled to choose a baby due to their presence or lack of hardware.

 

[Pigeon]

I might do it if we had a hereditary genetic illness, but that's that's the only reason.

I think the idea of doing this based on gender is wrong. There is an inherent danger of ending up with skewed sex ratios, as is already the case in some countries. To me, there is something icky about playing god for trivial reasons. Illness strikes me as a legitimate reason--gender selection, eye color, height, etc. are not.

I don't want to see this legislated however.

 

[AllyandJack]

I can understand if someone has had repeated miscarriages due to genetic issues. But, I can't imagine anyone choosing to go through this process just to select a gender. It's not like you just magically have an embryo. It's a hard process.

I would hope people would donate any unused embryos to help another couple conceive. But, that's my preference and I can understand why people would be uncomfortable with that. I'm more uncomfortable with destroying them than I am with someone else having my bio children. Maybe they'll save them and go back for them. You never know what people plan to do and their intentions could be noble. I just can't imagine going through IVF for gender selection. I don't know why someone would choose to torture themselves this way.