is it morally wrong for a person with a genetic defect to have a child?

Question

Saw this on 20/20 last night where the parents decided to have kids even though there was a large chance of passing on something they had called "lobster claw". Just like it sounds, severely deformed hands shaped like a lobster.

Their kids ended up with the same bad deformities as their parents. What would you have done?

Answer 1

I would have adopted a child.

Answer 2

So do you think that having deformed hands means that you can't have a fulfilling life? Apparently the parents on the 20/20 show (which I did not see) met, fell in love, and decided - like the majority of people do - to have children. We can assume that they have lives that are more or less like anyone else's - happiness, sadness, boredom, excitement, ups and downs. Why should having hands different than the typical hand be such a major concern of people other than their own family?

And if you do think that having deformed hands is so awful that life isn't worth living, what about people who are born with completely normal hands but have an accident or medical condition that deforms their hands? Are their lives then no longer worthy?

The majority of people with disabilities have conditions that were not genetically determined. If we get comfortable dictating that people should not be able to reproduce if they have a substantial risk of having children with hand abnormalities, what happens next? Do we require that if any prenatal testing determines a fetus has a disabling condition that an abortion is mandatory? And then do we decide that if a person becomes disabled as a result of a premature birth, or a brain injury at birth, or an illness in childhood, or an accident as a young adult, or age-related dementia, these lives are no longer worthy and the people with these conditions should be euthanized? Do we then decide that people who are likely to have children who are short, or overweight, or not physically attractive should not have children?
That's a very slippery slope that I believe we need to stay away from!

Answer 3

I'll tell you what is wrong: supporting/seeking legal methods of child abandonment and neglect. In fact, I think that is abnormal: a mental deformity. Should your parents have aborted you?

Killing a fetus because s/he may have a deformity (especially one that can be corrected or significantly aided) is similarly wrong. You clearly do not value human life.

If the woman with that genetic deformity killed her unborn child because s/he MIGHT have inherited a deformity she herself had, it would be like saying that her own life was not worth living. I'm sure she believes that her deformity did NOT prevent her from being a worthwhile member of society.

If her self esteem were lower, she could always have her tubes tied. However, people who do not wish to procreate or take on the risk of procreation should a) not have sex or b) sterilize themselves. Failing to have the decency to do this and then copping out of the situation they themselves have created is LAAAAME.

Answer 4

Every single disease, illness, or infirmity is linked to some aspect of genetics. That means that on some level every physical or emotional problem anyone has was inherited. Maybe only very inherited a higher risk or they might have straight out inherited the disease. I would bet anything that you wouldn't have been born if people who had inherited illnesses stopped reproducing. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, asthma, so many very common things are linked to genetics. Personally I inherited multiple physical deficiencies. I have asthma, I have a pain disorder usually runs in families, I have migraines, I'm bipolar and I have anxiety issues. I'm also internally grateful that I was allowed a shot at life. My life wasn't normal and it doesn't seem happy when you write it down on paper. But it's what I know and I know it could be so much worse. When you're born with limitations you don't see them as limitations as much. You just see them as the way things are and you're thankful for all the things you CAN do. Life is wonderful even when it's not "perfect".

Answer 5

No it is not wrong I have a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis and I'm 37 weeks pg my son has a 50/50% chance of having this but it is not a deadly disability and neither is lobster claw syndrome its more of a physical disability and my disorder is more of a nerve disability where tumors grow on nerves and only a small chance of becoming cancer I only have one small tumor and it is on no major nerve in my body nobody has died from either one of these. And any one can have a child with a disability if your child was diagnosed with a disability would you abort that child. I would hope not because it is no ones fault when a child has a disability even if the parents give it to them because not all genetic disorder's is 100% sure to be passed on. And I would hope that when a parent has a child with a disability they show that child all the love they would show a child with out a disability. But it is wrong to judge a parent with a disability on there choice to have a child its are choice to have a child and were not asking for your thought on the matter.

Answer 6

I have a rare genetic condition that leaves me tired, dizzy and achy all over. My parents (unknowingly) both carry the gene. However, I am soooo pleased that they gave me the chance of life. I would hate to think that they would have aborted me knowing i was not "perfect." I love my life, I am married and have 3 beautiful children. Yes, it is hard when you are not well, but I feel very blesed with what I have. The chances of me passing it on to my children were highly remote, but even so - I still would have decided to go ahead. This is all I know, I don't know life any differently and therefore I feel I have just accepted it.

Answer 7

The drive to pro create is so intense I feel like if I had a " genetic defect" that I knew about I would still want to have children. Maybe it would be selfish , because I would want someone just like me..... I am not sure what I would want b/c I dont have any genetic defects.... At least that I know of in my genes. So my answer to your question is that I believe I would want to have to experience of having a child, wether or not they would be my biological children or adopted I dont know......

Answer 8

Where do you draw the line? Deafness? Late onset Alzheimers? Diabetes? At what level of "defect" does like become not worth living?

It is isn't ok to birth a child that *may* have the defect, is it then right to murder the person with the defect? What about an infant?

I choose not to judge nor to be judged.

Answer 9

I don't think it's morally wrong because just because they have the defect doesn't always mean they will pass it on. They have a right to bear children because that is the burden they will have to deal with. But I think it is a matter if they want to deal with the fact that their offspring might be in the same situation as they are, but I don't think they are in the wrong if they want to have a baby.

Answer 10

why would it be morally wrong to have a child? how would having "lobster claw" make the life of the child worthless? obviously the parents and many other people are able to live with this "defect"

Answer 11

Morality has nothing to do with it. Morality is ambiguous, shifting, and utlimately a non-starter in human development.

Genetic defects happen all the time--to YOU, to me, to those around us. If people choose to have children, that THEIR choice, and none of your business. In 100 years, will it even matter? Not to you or me, 'cause we'll be dead. As long as the children are loved and cared for, there is no reason they shouldn't have children, if they choose.