Just some disconnected thoughts on this article about genetic engineering from BrianCuban.com.
Am I a going to far when I state that I see a world in the not to distant future where genetic testing for certain diseases will be mandatory and it will be a crime to conceive if you test positive for certain genetic disorders. Such a movement would most likely start in more overpopulated areas of the world with less freedoms but I do see it coming. China already has its’ “one child policy“. Is the next genetic step a “One Child No Defects” policy?
Yes. Absolutely, that is much too far. I don’t think it is rational to expect that any nation will, in the near future, implement a “One Child No Defects” policy. Many couples do make the decision not to have a child that they know will carry certain defects which can be tested for in utero, but in no way does this imply that it will become law in any place on earth.
I find the assumption that the most overpopulated countries in the world would have the resources to provide genetic testing and engineering to all fertile couples to be unfounded. The things which we take for granted – ultrasounds, knowing the sex of a fetus well before birth, the ability to test for certain genetic diseases – cannot be assumed to be available even to all members of our own society, much less women in other countries. And, frankly, discussing a fear like those shows a middle-class bias.
I’m hardly an expert on Ability Rights – being an adult with neither learning nor physical disabilities. I do have poor eyesight, but it is correctable with lenses. That said, I do know that there are many people in US culture who would choose not to have a child because of defects which will affect the child’s growth, and probably just as many people who *do* choose to have the child, regardless.
Chris said:
Well, Dear, Randy and I did choose to not have a child when the opportunity arose because of my birth defects and the fact that he is of a certain ethnic background that would increase the chance of my birth defects manifesting themselves in our child as “unmanageable”.
With that said, I believe it should be a choice left to the prosepctive parents. I don’t believe any government agency should have the right to tell a man and a woman they can’t have a child because the effects of their genetics would manifest themselves in the child anymore than I believe a government should be allowed to tell an adult couple whether or not they should or can have children of their own. I am not a big fan of China’s “One Child” rule, but understand that their governemnt felt it necessary to limit the population increase in that way.
And, yes, you bring up a good point. If such a thing were to happen, I sincerely doubt it would happen in more than just the richest and most technilogically advanced countries of the world. Developing coutries would no more have the means to preform these kinds of tests than they have to educate their people about AIDS and limit their sexual activity if they have the disease. It is difficult to conceive that even these “World Power” countries would be so heartless, yet these are the same countries who have allowed the developemtent and implimentation of the tests performed on pregnant women everyday, giving them the option of destroying a developing human child if they find potential birth defects. And, as always, there are two sides to the coin.