I will give you the benefit of the doubt and write this on the assumption that you genuinely believe that the human race can be made stronger by aborting fetuses with birth defects and genetic conditions or that another plague wiping out all those with weak immune systems wouldn’t be such a bad thing because it would make the species as a whole more resilient and control the population.
But
to be blatantly honest, that kind of emotionless, cold disregard for the value
of each and every human life disgusts me on a very deep level. I myself was
born with not 1 but 3 Congenital Heart Defects. I know what it’s like to lay in
a hospital bed and wonder why mom won’t meet your eyes and why there are tears
in hers when she does. I know what it’s like to think you’re finally done with
medicines and hospitals only to have a doctor order a test that could put yet
another operation on your schedule. I have also known others with similar
problems and stories; one of the implications of eugenics is that at best we
don’t matter and at worst we’d be doing the world a favor by being gone. Does
that sound right to ANYONE?
Also,
let me explain something. There is a difference between congenital conditions
and genetic conditions.
Congenital
conditions occur during fetal development, most of the time certain cells just
don’t follow the marching orders given by DNA or the fetus isn’t exposed to the
correct hormones/vitamins or exposed to too much or too little of something,
which can lead to any number of things. Congenital defects range in nature,
severity, and prognosis as much as the children born with them do in
personality, and many times where exactly a given defect or set of defects is
located on that spectrum is not apparent until after the child is born. So is
it fair to judge something like that with a blanket call for death?
I
knew a boy who was born with not only a severe CHD but also a very dangerous
immune deficiency. Sadly he died of infection at the age of 7 (God rest his
soul), but I can guarantee you that no one who knew him would take back a day
of those years for anything in this world.
Also
Congenital defects as I said are developmental mishaps, they don’t go gene deep and
they can’t be genetically passed from parent to child. A person with a
congenital condition has as much chance at having a healthy child as someone
who was born completely healthy, which is about 14:1.
Genetic
conditions such as Downs (Trisomy 21) or Hemophilia CAN be passed on, but any
fetus can have a simultaneous genetic mutation that didn’t come from either
parent. As many times during gestation as cells divide and the code is split
and replicated I’d say it’s nothing short of a miracle that mutations like that
don’t occur more often than they do. That’s just a risk everyone has to take
when they go to have a baby.
I hope everyone who believed in eugenics to the extent that they would have let Mathew, you and others with a birth defect or genetic disorder find out some one they care for had some condition of this type.
ReplyDeleteSo that they have to deal with the reality their choice would mean. That some one they knew and came to love on some level either as a friend or something else would have died if they had their way.
I nearly died at a young age due to issues with my kidneys. I know a staph infection was involved I don't know what else was the issue.
My cousin little Rocky had an issue with his heart valve. He suffered a bit of brain damage because a cardiac arrest due to how long it took for him to be treated.
The answer to dealing with any defect or condition when it happens is research and treatment.
Reading this I was also thinking of the voluntary human extinction movement.
I wonder about that. If I may take a gloomy counterpoint, suppose people with terrible heritable conditions were prevented over the course of several generations, perhaps by such humane means as now employed by the Ashkenazim, wouldn't there be less suffering? And in response to your question about people not getting to exist, might not a couple choose to have a different child in the place of the one prevented? It is beyond my ability to see all the potential consequences, but I suspect that a good world could exist with responsible and moral eugenics. Of course, there're also many possible dystopias.
ReplyDeleteJustin- mind giving more details about what you mean by human eugenic? If you are saying couples should screen themselves for genetic disorders- and then decide not to get conceive a child in the first place which I believe you are then please be a bit clear on that. As no one has any issues with that. We do have issues of aborting a child because you discover he or she will be born with a disease.
DeletePersonally, I don't think that a moral society can exist where we don't value every single human life, and I find it just a bit barbaric to say its ok for parents to keep one child and abort another no matter the reason. That just doesnt seem right to me. Plus let me tell you something about those of us who have these problems. We're fighters, we don't tend to wallow in it but rather enjoy the second chance we've been given and do the best we can. Our families would say we're worth it and I'd have words for anyone who said otherwise
ReplyDeleteHello, please give me an answer to this because I don't find any answer myself! Isn't the number of people being able to live on this Earth a limited one? If we already are 7 billion people, isn't it that the life of a new child in a US family is the death by starvation of another one in Ethiopia?
ReplyDelete