Question

What ethical issues are associated with the following parenting topics: genetic testing, designer babies, cloning, prenatal screening, and age discrimination? Select two topics to discuss and provide your viewpoints.

Answer 1

What ethical issues are associated with the following parenting topics: genetic testing, designer babies, cloning, prenatal screening, and age discrimination? Select two topics to discuss and provide your viewpoints.

Answer: Ethical issues are something that is still prevailing in the society in every aspect. These issues are mainly based on moral principles of the people of the society and so it is very hard to deal with such issues. It is harsh to believe that such ethical issues prevail in parenting as well, so here we will discuss about some parenting topics which are affected by these ethical issues.

Ethical issues in genetic testing: Genetic testing is a type of medical test which help to identify changes in protein, chromosome or gene structure.Along with this it also helps in determining any genetic disorder, its diagnosis, and also in predictive testing. It also involves diagnostic testing which basically helps to check the current disease status.The most important form of genetic testing is the Carrier testing which basically involves determining the particular genetic trait that is being passed on. In this process we can determine some diseases or disorder that are caused genetically. As we all know that we are made up of many genes and these are the units that decides how an individual is going to be. Every person genetically is comprised of two genes one inherited from mother and other from the father. If the gene which is dominant for a particular trait or disorder then it will be expressed and if it is recessive it will be suppressed. If the disease is related to the X- chromosome it would most probably show its characteristic in males. In this way the genetic constitution of an individual determines the characteristic of that individual. Genetic testing also helps in predicting the fate of the gene by determining that it is mutated or not because mutated genes could show changes in later life stages as well its examples are Breast cancer, huntington's disease cystic fibrosis ,etc. As now you know about the advantages of genetic testing you might be thinking what kind of issues are there that affect such beneficial process ethically, But there are some in which the most common is satisfying the parents and their family by providing all the different kind of information they want about the child and if not provided then the would not be pleased and they will start thinking that this is not important and in this way the actual motto of genetic testing would start fading.

Ethical issues associated with age discrimination: Many of us might know that women can give birth to a child only upto a certain age as the production of ovum ceases after a certain age which is true but this does not means that there is only a certain limited period which is confined between late twenties and early thirties for having a child. Many people say that as women ages her capacity to carry a baby within herself decreases and there could be many complications for her during that period, however now things are changed because of increased medical and health care facilities and women are having a healthy baby even after their forties and fifties. As we all say that age doesn't matter in any field of life so why it starts to matter when someone want to become a parent. Parenting is not something that should be planned under the pressure of the society and their various misconception because today even the women have a lots of passion and desire towards their work and they also want to enjoy their lives to the fullest until they enter into a new phase of their life in which they have to carry many responsibilties as a parent. So the conclusion is that no one should be forbidden to become a parent just because that person is too young or if the person is too old. Age is just a number and every one has the right to choose the correct time when they feel that they can take up such a huge responsibilty.