Sex Selection and Pre-selection are Unethical and Unwise
It wasn't until 1975 that scientist Ronald J. Ericsson, Ph.D. began studies that eventually led to what we refer to today as sex selection and/ or pre- selection. He began his determination by studying whether or not enriched sperm would aid in the offspring of a desired gender. This process was first established in the 1970s in which scientists stained X and Y sperm in order to identify them. Thorough studies have been accumulated during the last three decades due to an increase in the perceived need for a "balanced family" and "planned pregnancy" in regards to the "chosen baby." Sex selection and/or pre-selection, despite one's preference of gender, is a scientifically unethical and unnecessary technique due to its accustomed procedures and questionable results.
Sex selection can take place by genetically testing, or by taking ultrasound images of the developing fetus, resulting in abortion due to an undesired gender. The practice of sex selection can also take place after the birth of the child, "[.] when one or both parents kill their baby" (Dixon), also through the process known as partial birth abortion. If a couple does not take into consideration reasonable procedures prior to conception, the undesired baby is typically aborted. When a couple realizes, proceeding conception, that the child that they would be having is a girl, their only alternative is abortion if the gender is undesired. A woman can choose to have a deliberate induction of a miscarriage in which the fetus and placenta are vacuumed out of the uterus, or a partial birth abortion in which an abortionist creates a hole inside the baby's skull, that remains inside the birth canal, and drains...
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One important reason Americans want to limit terms of their elected representatives is because they are likely to blame what they observe as professional and almost permanent ruling elect of career politicians for a majority of the country’s ill. Supporters of term limits claim the advantages of incumbency are so overpowering that they instead decrease representative democracy and diminish the effectiveness of the government. “Since 1950, about 90% of all incumbents in the House have won the reelection. The 10% who do not return includes both retiring members and those defeated in reelection attempts.” (Term Limits) “Proponents term limits argue that elected officials in Washington eventually become estrang...
The addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
For many years, infertile couples have had difficulty facing the reality that they can not have children. According to Nidus Information Services Incorporated, 6.2 million women in the United States are infertile. This problem leads to many options. A few options have been used for a long period of time: the couple could adopt a child or keep trying to have a child themselves. For those couples that want to have their own children, there are new options arising. In vetro fertilization is an option that gives couples the chance to have a doctor combine the male's sperm and the woman's eggs in a petri dish and implant them into the woman's womb after the artificial conception. This may result in multiple pregnancies - more than five in some cases. This does not only occur in implantation, however. Many times the patient's doctor will ask her to consider selective reduction: aborting a few fetuses to save the ones she can. In a case of multiple pregnancy, selective reduction should be considered an option.
Throughout history, Term limits have been a very controversial issue as well as a powerful reform regarding politics. Term limits can best be defined as a restriction or a limit to a number of times an official may be elected or serve. For years, American politics have been dealing with the movement to limit political terms. Though there are some who disapprove of term limits for Congressmen, there are many Americans who have approved. There is widespread support on Term Limits, which shows us that the public is dissatisfied with what is occurring in Congress presently. In many states, cities and counties across the United States term limits have been established for state and local officials. Congress is currently running on a system of seniority. Individuals who have spent the most time in office gain more power. As a result, these Congressmen focus on how they can stay in office and that plan leaves limited room for fresh new officials to have a chance to make changes. Term limits should be placed on our Congressmen and women because it would allow for a more efficient Congress.
There are currently 15 states that have term limits in place for legislators, and among those states, there are seven different versions of term limits (National Conference for State Legislatures, 2009). The differences include the length of time for the limits and whether they are lifetime limits or just consecutive term limits. The difference in the parameters, and the fact that there has been no national reform passed, impacts the effectiveness of the restrictions. For example, consider the fact that congressional privilege and power is often based on seniority. States with current term limits have placed themselves in a weaker position when it comes to power within the legislature...
In the present day there are new forms of technology being developed on a regular basis that make what was once impossible a normal reality. With this being said, many individuals throw caution to the wind and decide to take action on their every want and need. When it comes to the process of procreating and bringing a child into this world, parents can find themselves hoping and wishing for one gender over another. In order to ensure that the gender they want is what they get parents can go through variations of processes in order to select the desired gender of their baby. Many in today’s world have deemed these sorts of practices unethical and immoral and some forms of religion refuse the idea of it. Ideas centered around selecting the gender of ones offspring has been a constantly ascending issue due to the fact that it clashes between the parents wishes and what is right for the world and the natural process. Going through with gender selection processes poses the threat that the offspring will simply be mediums of their parents desires rather than the child they were meant to be. This could jump-start a trend in the direction of both good and bad selection of unborn babies features and characteristics (Robertson 3). Selecting the gender of ones unborn baby for nonmedical reasons is unethical and immoral due to discarding unwanted eggs, discrepancies regarding religion, gender bias selections and instability, and the overall disruption of the natural processes for our future generations development.
This has been a long time debated issue in the U.S., but it is clearly of national interest. In a five year period, twenty three states have passed laws enforcing term limits on congressional representatives and senators. The Supreme Court deemed them unconstitutional, and struck them down in 1995 (U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton) (Sabato, 46), yet term limitations on a state level have shown
Congressional terms have no limits. Controversy exists between those who think the terms should be limited and those who believe that terms should remain unlimited. The group that wants to limit the terms argues that the change will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. Those who oppose term limits believe that we would sacrifice both the stability and experience held by veteran politicians. They also point out that our election process allows the voter to limit terms, at their discretion. While experience and stability are important considerations, congressional terms should be limited to a maximum of two.
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
For just thousands of dollars more, women going through in vitro fertilization can later choose to have a certain gender with perfect vision, a great heart, a natural ability for sports, and being able to avoid diseases (Angelle). Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis was first inaugurated in 1990. “It has become an important complement to the presently available approaches for prevention of genetic disorders and an established clinical option in reproductive medicine” (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis). This has come in handy because it gives you the opportunity to create a baby free of health risks and you are able to freeze your eggs if you miscarry or if something harmful goes wrong with the first egg. Designer babies are created using In Vitro Fertilization. Using this technique, doctors can fertilize the egg with sperm inside the laboratory using a test tube. Doing so you can reduce the chance of the child being born with a genetic disorder and the parents can actually then on choose the sex of the baby. In some cases couples have used PGD to their advantage to save one of their children. Some babies sole purpose is to be created to save the life of their own sibling. Jamie was the first “designer” baby in Britain. “He was genetically matched to his four-year-old brother, Charlie, in the hope to curing a rare type of anaemia which threatens the older boy...
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Prenatal genetic screening in particular is a polarizing topic of discussion, more specifically, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). PGD is one of the two techniques commonly used to genetically screen embryos in vitro; it is usually done at the eight-cell stage of division. PGD is most often performed when there is the risk that one or both parents carry disease-causing mutations. It is extensively used by high-risk individuals trying to conceive babes who will be free of particular mutations. PGD can test for over 50 genetic conditions and even allows for sex selection if there are underlying gender-associated medical conditions. When the results are satisfactory, the selected embryo is implanted into the mother’s uterus. While a controversial technique, preimplantation genetic diagnosis is one example of some of the good genetic testing can do, more benefits will be furthe...
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.