if you or your husband have a disease , is it right to reproduce?

Question

we were watching a show tonight on the discovery health channel and it was about people with horrible diseases that could pass on to your children, is it bad to have kids knowing you will put them threw pain? also if you have one kid and it ends up being retarded do you hold off on having more?

Answer 1

I do think it is wrong if it is a cetainty that your child will have that disease. Why would you want to put your child through that?
If there was a very small chance that you might pass something on to your child then I think it's alright.
but personally I wouldnt do it.

Answer 2

If you are able to have children, and can be prepared for that possibility, yes, why shouldnt you have children? Just because it could be passed on doesnt always mean it will. Its si disappointing to hear judgements such as some of the statements above that people with disease shouldnt have kids----- from the minute we are born, we are dying. If we knocked out everyone that oculd pass along some genetic mutation, some predisposal to fatal disease, there would no one left. Wether it be a gentic defect, or early heart disease, cancer- you name it- we are all not perfect. And those that are brave enough to face their diseases and try to continue their family lines despite the odds should be applauded. Of course no one wants their child to suffer- but there is no guarantee in life for anyone- bad or good.

Answer 3

I don't think it's inherently wrong to have a child if you have a disease or genetic disorder that isn't life-threatening. Even if the child did inherit the disease, people can often lead amazing lives regardless of disability- really, if only those with the best genes reproduced, we'd be living in a nightmare utopia in no time. The only people I think should abstain from having children are those who are too uneducated, lazy, or emotionally unstable to raise a child in a healthy environment.

As far as having another if your first were mentally retarded goes...I think that depends on the situation. As far as I know mental retardation is not hereditary, but a handicapped child often requires more care and attention than one who is not handicapped, so...I personally would wait to have another.

Answer 4

well, is the disease genetic? How likely is there a chance the child will have the disease? Is the couple willing to accept the fact that if a child with a genetic disease is indeed born, they will have to take care of it and give it as much chance in the world as they possibly can?

a lot of great people have genetic diseases. Stephen Hawking has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, John F Kennedy had Addison's disease. To imagine a world without these people is almost impossible. Personally, social stigma is a weak argument against the miracle of life.

Answer 5

Retarded is not a good choice of words! Mentally handicapped or mentally challenged is better choice of words.

People who knowingly pass on diseases... its not right.

If you have one mentally challenged kids, it should not put off having more. They deserve the love just as much as anyone else and I think they deserve our love more than some "normal" people.

Sorry... your choice of words just really irritated me. I have a brother that is handicapped and for that word to be used .... p*sses me off. Its disrespectful. Just like staring at people who are different irritates me.

Answer 6

Diseases are not good thing to pass on but if your child comes out wrong it's just random and shouldn't stop you from trying again....And don't get rid of your first child if it can be helped =) If you guys have something or maybe you guys have allergies to everything or something bad adoption is a option.. I'd hate not to be able to eat peanuts =(

Answer 7

Bah - "the miracle of life," forsooth. When there are six billion "miracles" walking around on this planet, life is no longer as miraculous as all that. It's commonplace.

I had my tubes tied years ago so I wouldn't suffer or pass on my family's genetic legacy of schizophrenia, post-partum psychosis, and adult-onset diabetes. Unlike my mother, who had seven children (and who was institutionalized for psychotic breaks after four of them) I've made it to the age of 35 without needing psychiatric meds or insulin injections. I'm also the one who will probably end up supporting my schizophrenic sister in her old age. I don't regret my decision one bit, no matter what any religion would say about it. My husband supports me completely in this.

I have an epileptic (ex-)friend who thought I was absolutely crazy to have my tubes tied before my wedding. She kept telling me that I should just pray to God for healthy children, and God wouldn't give me any burden I couldn't handle. I disagreed.

Said friend, who dropped out of high school due to her epilepsy, got married and couldn't wait to have kids. She prayed, she hoped, and she was firmly convinced that because she was a good person, God would give her healthy children.

Well, God apparently didn't hear her, because God sent her three little epileptic kids. Between their special needs, medications, and medical bills, her husband got stressed out and left, and she's absolutely miserable.

God helps those who help themselves. First he sent me a high school biology class in which I learned that schizophrenia was hereditary, then he sent me a women's physiology class where I learned that postpartum psychosis was hereditary, and where I learned what an electrocoagulation tubal ligation was.

I say, if you have a condition but just have to have children, get snipped and adopt children, or foster them. Hereditary diseases are not something to be taken lightly. My sister tried to kill herself because of mental illness, and it wasn't any fun to watch my mother go in and out of institutions as a teenager, either.

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, folks. Sometimes self-sacrifice involves giving up the idea of having your own biological child, and sometimes it's an act of love to refuse to pass on a horrible burden.

Answer 8

It all comes down to this. If you think it is your duty because of your religion then nothing we say will stop you from having them. I think you should think about the child first and foremost. Think of all the things he/she will have to face and if you can live with that guilt then have the child. Just make sure you can love it no matter what.

Answer 9

If I knew that my husband or I had genes that were bad that we could pass on to our child, that the percentages were high in the child getting them, no, I would not have a biological child. I would adopt.

Answer 10

depends on the disease. because if its not that bad then its okay as long as you take the right percautions, and make sure your as healthy as you can be, and dont smoke, drink, or anthing like that which could make it worse. and if it ends up having downs syndrom, it doesnt mean the next one will for sure be as well.