Today in class we watched a clip from the movie Minority Report, and one of the things we touched on briefly was the technology that was used in the film. Some of it, as far-fetched as it may have seemed, is actually close to becoming a reality and may be available in the next few years. This amazed me, but what shocked me even more was an article that I found tonight about another advancement in technology and science: the possibility that parents could chose the gender of their children. The technology, called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PDG) was originally developed to determine whether an embryo had a genetic disease and allow parents to prevent their children from having genetic diseases. The parents, however, we required to use vitro fertilization, where the eggs are fertilized outside of the womb. The technology now allows parents to chose the gender of their child through vitro fertilization. To me, it seems like it's taking away from nature and how things are supposed to work, and I'm not sure I agree with the idea of being able to chose what gender a child is. I also feel that this could pose potential gender domination threats in countries such as China or India, where customs favor the male child.
What do you think? Should people be allowed to chose the gender of their child? Why or why not? Does it bring up any ethical or moral questions?
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I agree with you Quincy, It has always made me uncomfortable knowing that people are taking nature into their own hands. I think that as humans we can't always have control over our futures. Selecting a child's gender and even deciding the way the look takes away the surprise in life. Frankly I think it takes some of the fun out of life.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't like the idea of choosing the gender. These "designer babies" are very controversial. However, if a woman is unable to have a baby, I think this is a nice alternative. But it's a little superficial too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. There are very few things in life that we have no control over, and I feel that this should remain one of them. As a parent, you should be able to give your child a life full of love and happiness regardless of their gender. The only thing that should matter is that it's your child. I understand that PGD is a useful tool to diagnosing genetic defects and I do think that it should continue to be used for this purpose. However, I think this is another question of where to draw the line. Just because we have the ability to take this technology to the next level does not mean that it should be taken there.
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