Category: Let's talk
Today the lords will rule on whether a decision to allow a couple to have a “designer baby” should be overturned. The couple were granted permission to undergo embrio selection in order to have a child which is a tissue match for their existing child who suffers from a rare blood disorder. If they have a baby who is an exact tissue match, stem cells from the umbilical chord will be transplanted into their elder child and will hopefully cure him of the condition he suffers from (currently he has to undergo blood transfusions every month to keep him alive).
So, although this procedure is totally painless for the baby, do you think it is right to have a baby purely to save the life of an existing child? After all, had their child not been ill, the couple perhaps would have chosen not to have another baby. As a parent, you will do almost anything for your child, but is it really morally or ethically right that another human being should be brought into this world purely because, if they were not, the other child may die? And if the procedure is not successful, how will the parents feel about that second child, and how will that child feel knowing he/she was only conceived because the parents needed his/her stem cells?
if it was Alasdair with the rare disease we would move heaven and earth to save him, but not, at the expense of the human rights of another innocent living being...
well, the decision was upheld, and therefore couples will in future be able to have embrio selection in order to save the life of a child.
Was there any sort of family planning/counselling beforehand? I'd think that the court would want some sort of reassurance that the second child was wanted for something other than it's stem-cells... Just curious, Erin
Of course people should be able to create lives simply to save others, but if they are created for that purpose and are to end after they've surved their purpose, I believe they should end immediately.
ah no no she is simply going to have a baby, the baby will just be a normal child, what will happen is that she will have IVF treatment in order for a suitable doner match to be found, she will then hopefully become pregnant with the embrio that is implanted, and will go on to have a healthy pregnancy. when the baby is born, the blood from the umbilical chord will be collected and that is the stem cells that the older sibling will receive. the baby itself will not have to undergo any type procedure - the baby will just be a normal baby and will then grow into a normal adult.
wow, sounds like a real Pandora's box
I'm glad the baby is expected to be normal and healthy, and I think it will turn out all right in this situation but yet we do open up a Pandora's Box as Carla said. Therefore, I think designer babies should be banned entirely. BTW, the child who wouldn't have been born if his sister were a boy, or the accident baby, all these children have the same questions.