Ethical Issues of Reproductive Technologies: Designer Babies, Sex ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

selection is based on the parental virtue of acceptance. When an individual becomes a parent society expects him or her to maintain that role regardless of the specific characteristics of their child. [12] McDougall [12] proposes that it is an intrinsic feature of a child that his or her characteristics will be unpredictable. Even if their entire genetic make-up were known, the complexity of the child’s environment makes their characteristics, to some extent, unpredictable. Therefore, it follows, since a child’s characteristics are unpredictable, acceptance of those characteristics is a parental virtue. [12] A child’s sex would fall within the scope of this parental virtue of acceptance and on this basis sex selection would be regarded as wrong. McDougall [12] does acknowledge however, that acceptance is only one in a range of parental values and others, such as concern for a child’s opportunities, can conflict with this. Whilst I recognize that sex selection would satisfy the desires of couples to ‘balance’ their families, I feel that other than in exceptional circumstances, sex selection should only be available for medical reasons. I believe concern with gender, be that male or female, is not something to be encouraged. [16] Gender is not a medical condition, but rather, a characteristic to be accepted by parents. Therefore, I see no compelling argument to justify the use of this technology for social reasons. Donor Babies A final area to look at is that of ‘donor babies’ or the use of donated gametes. For infertile couples who lack sperm or oocytes this may be the only solution to enable the accomplishment of a parental offspring. [17] Gamete donation was introduced to address various medical problems, and is indicated where there is no possibility of pregnancy without the technique, or when other treatments have a minimal chance of success. [1],[17] Such circumstances include the use of donated oocytes where a woman has suffered premature ovarian failure or because treatment such as chemotherapy has rendered her infertile. [18] It can 92
also be used to evade transmission of a genetic disease to the offspring. [17] These uses all fall into the realm of medical treatment and pose no unique ethical problems. Major ethical issues arise however, when the practise is used for non-medical reasons. There is much debate on the acceptability of gamete donation in circumstances where the infertility is due to psychosocial factors such as, in, lesbian couples or post-menopausal women. [19],[17] It is this use for older, post-menopausal women that is often debated and the area that I will focus on. Oocyte donation has been used for infertile women over the age of forty when IVF with their own oocytes has been unsuccessful and there is no explanation other than age for their infertility. The use of younger women’s donated eggs proved highly successful and paved the way for their use in postmenopausal women. [1] In this way a woman’s reproductive age has been artificially extended. [19] A major argument against oocyte donation to older women is that there is a ‘natural’ limit to reproductive capacity and to transcend this would be ‘unnatural’. [19] Furthermore, parenting can be a physically demanding, energyconsuming task and it is thought that older parents may be unable to meet the needs of a growing child. [1],[19] However, it can be pointed out that it is not unusual for children to be raised by grandparents and it is therefore put that older people are capable of fulfilling parental roles. [1] Arguments in favour are based on gender equality and reproductive freedom. It is argued that since older men may father children naturally, denying woman an alternative to reproduction at the equivalent age is sexist, especially since women generally live longer than men. [19],[20] However, there are real concerns regarding the health of the recipients. In a postmenopausal pregnancy the woman faces increased risk of complications such as hypertension, diabetes, and preterm labour. [19] There are also concerns surrounding the interests of the child who, some feel, may be adversely affected psychologically and socially, and may resent having a mother old enough to be their grandmother. [19] In addition, there is the concern that there is increased likelihood that one or both parents will die before the child is raised. [1] Nonetheless, it 93
Page 1 and 2: Ethical Issues of Reproductive Tech
Page 3 and 4: abnormalities such as Down’s Synd
Page 5: with sex selection for non-medical
Page 9 and 10: References [1] Strong C. Ethics in

Ethical Issues of Reproductive Technologies: Designer Babies, Sex ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?