Pro-Choice- Is it morally acceptable to screen your pregnancies for diseases or other traits?

Question

Pro-lifers, I know what you will say already, please allow the pro-choicers to voice their opinion here.

There are tests available now that will screen fetuses for things like genetic propensity toward breast cancer, arthritis, etc, and we already know you can test for sex of the baby. Soon, as more research is developed, you will be able to test for things like height, overweight tendencies, hair and eye color, etc.

Is it alright if parents want to screen out undesirable traits, (aborting those fetuses) in order to have the child of their dreams?
Where do you draw the line? Is it okay to abort for only terminal diseases, or for debilitating diseases, or for any trait you find personally undesirable, like being overweight?

Cheers Acid, you prompted this question, now have at it.

Slave of 12 Gods - Alright, so you are for terminating the pregnancy in the case of terminal illness, gotcha. What about the other things mentioned here? Breast cancer, arthritis, overweight, tall, eye color, etc.

Acid Zebra *whistle* Here boy...*whistle* where are you??

Alright Acid, so while you are pondering, please consider this. Lok if you are still here, please answer too. Would you consider passing a law to make it illegal for couples to abort a child they don't want based ONLY on "unwanted" traits like hair or eye color? What about for unhealthy traits like breast cancer and being overweight? Wouldn't that be considered a "slippery slope" to most pro-abortionists? (pro choice, whatever you want to call yourself).

Answer 1

I have been thinking about the issue while traveling to work. I'm not entirely done with thinking about it.

Preliminaries:
- I am pro-choice
- I see no issue in screening pregnancies for genetic defects, diseases, and other _negative_ traits (where I define negative from a medical perspective, not a subjective 'taste' perspective), and giving the parents the choice of continuing with the pregnancy.
- I have issues with selecting for 'normal' traits like length, hair color, gender and other traits thought would have no negative impact, medically.

However, that last part is a 'gut' issue (which I object to, I wish rational solutions) and I haven't fully finished thinking about it.

Answer 2

I would...but only up to a point. I sure as hell wouldn't abort just because the test told me that the kid would have a different color hair than my preferred color, that'd be down right insane and IMO immoral. I can however, see the logic in screening for diseases that would seriously and negatively affect the potential child's life.

Answer 3

I have issues with this screening process...because my sister had the test for downs syndrome (I believe it was for that) and although they did not want it done, where she lives it is required.
So the test came back positive, and they decided to continue with the pregnancy...well my niece was born and she is perfectly healthy.
They are not 100% accurate apparently and so some people are aborting a child that may not have an illness at all.

I do understand that people need to make the choice for themselves, but I personally disagree with it.

Answer 4

I think it's okay to screen for birth defects and other mental problems that will seriously affect a child's health. But other than that, no. And I'm pro-choice. Everyone has the risk of getting cancer or being overweight. And wanting to choose your baby's hair and eye color is just silly.

Answer 5

I am pro-life but this is a tough one. It really is. I am sorry but i dont have a good answer for you. One thing i do know is that i really hope that if the baby has a chance at any happiness in life then the person should have it. If it will be nothing but suffering then maybe not.

I say have it unless it is something really really dratistacally terrible.

Oh god - i really have no idea - sorry fo not helping :-(

Answer 6

If it's a significant and debilitating condition, then I think absolutely. If it's something harmless and within normal variation like hair/eye color, or sexual orientation, then absolutely not.

Answer 7

do you find it morally axeptable for a child to bee severly ill for maybe even the rest of his agonizing short life? when they breath through a stroh size tube in a hole in his neck , plugged into a machine to breath! getting infections constantly as a result! septic , febrile , weak???
I am in health care and I can only say - what a shame! sooo much suffering , and in the end , DEATH!

Answer 8

It is never acceptable to abort a baby,unless it is the evil spawn of Satan himself!
If a child is not to be born,then God will take care of it.This is why most miscarriages occur.Something is wrong with the baby.
Where is natural mother love ? I guess the endtimes are comming up on us fast!

Answer 9

It's up to the parents. Sure...I know people who have lost children to spinabifida (sp?) and they needed to test to make sure the babies they had later were okay.

Answer 10

It's okay to screen them, as long as you don't do anything based on the results.

Not my personal p.o.v., but them's the "rules" (purposeful grammatical error)