The Pros And Cons Of Genetic Screening

The act of genetic screening itself does not count as eugenics. The screening process prepares potential parents and shows them what to expect. It enters into a fuzzy area if the fetus does have some kind of genetic disorder and the question of aborting it is brought up. eugenics is largely defined as the process of purifying the gene pool through the selection of ideal candidates. That is most likely not the thought process of parents making a private decision on whether or not to keep a disabled child. Rather, it is how a child born with a disability will affect their lives and if they have the means to take care of one. There is also the matter of the extent of a child’s disorder. If it is life threatening, the child may be born, live and soon die, all in constant pain. Thus, many would view it as a kindness to not subject a child to that.

If one was to take the smaller definition of eugenics, which simply involves weeding out those with undesirable traits, then I suppose the latter scenario might count, although it would certainly be to a lesser degree than what the Nazis did. Regardless, it does venture into the realm of Gattaca. Parents

It involves the unethical coercion of getting families to abort children with disabilities. Many families may not have the means to give birth to a child without the financial support of their insurance company. This could lead to them aborting out of necessity, rather than desire. The insurance company views them as lesser individuals, not necessarily the parents. Refusing to provide medical care to some parents based on personal views leads to dangerous territory. In this case, they might as well say “This child has undesirable traits, you should not have it. But, since you are set upon birthing this child, this mistake, we will not support you. It is your problem, you are on your own.” I’m sure they use fancier terminology, but it boils down to the same