THE PERFECT BABY
If prospective parents could have the opportunity to modify the genes of their babies before they're born, would this be a great improvement? Parents get to choose the gifts and talents their babies have and remove all traces of defects to ensure a perfect baby. Would this be right? Would this be ethical? Please share with us.
One time on Facebook, I saw a post from a lady whose genotype was AS, talking about pregnancy and marriage. It's common knowledge that people with genotype AS are forbidden from getting married to their fellow carriers because of the likeable outcome of the children being sicker. But of course, humans are stubborn, as we see couples who are carriers damn the consequences and marry for what they console themselves with to be love.
This lady happens to fall in that category as she claimed being AS cannot be a barrier to her marrying whom she loves even if he's a carrier too. She went on to make a post about it sighting likeable instances where she could marry a carrier and not birth a Sickler.
Best believe none of the options comes easy or cheap. So, to me, her thought-like advice was as good as useless because not many could afford the procedures. While I didn't overthink the options, one struck me when she wrote that the genotype of a foetus can be determined while still in the womb, and if it turns out to be a sickler, she would abort it.
I cringed because, really, how many babies will she abort? This lady made it sound like abortion is a walk in the park, but of course, like every lousy talker, talk is cheap. Later on, this lady married a man whose genotype is AA. Not only that but she later came back to post that she checked her genotype while pregnant in Canada, and it turned out to be AA.
I didn't know what to make of her being mischievous but my heart goes out to women who must have fallen for her misleading information.
The Hive larners prompt above reminded me of this experience and I can't help but reflect severally how people back in the days where I'm from would always do some snooping before commencing a marriage. It's very important that before couples get married, both families involved will dig into each other's ancestry for any genetic trace like madness, premature death, prostitution, cleptomaniac, theft etc.
If the investigation comes out clean, then the marriage can commence. While such procedures might not be the same as modifying a child's gene, they are precautionary methods to ensure that one birth a problem-free child and such procedures are very ethical, unlike the one the mischievous lady was offering.
It takes a lot to be parents not to mention being parents to special needs children. I remember my mom telling us how her grandmother was married. Apparently, her grandfather kept losing his children. He had 11 children, and they died leaving three. Out of frustration to preserve his lineage, he sought out another wife, and thus, my great-grandmother came to be.
Another time, she was telling me how her Aunt, while she was pregnant, discovered her genotype to be AS; it was then the realization came that the children who were dying back then were probably victims of sickle cell anaemia. This discovery made everyone in my mom's family very cautious in choosing a life partner.
Personally, I cannot deal with special needs children or children with genetic disabilities because it's a frustrating situation for both the parents and the child involved. And as much as I won't want to alter the inherent traits of my children, I won't overlook the precautionary methods of the olden days in birthing healthy children.
