In addition to this class I am also in Human Development this semester. The second chapter in our textbook talks about Genetics, Prenatal Development and Birth. As I was reading about infertility problems and different medical techniques that can be used in aiding fertilization, I came across a section entitled "Ethical Issues". The section discussed some issues regarding surrogate mothers, in vitro fertilization, and sex selection techniques. The following questioned appeared: Is it ethical to terminate the life of an embryo based on it's sex? The question intrigued me so I did some research and found a 60 Minutes Segment on The Fertility Institutes website. Now this whole blog assignment is meant to encourage us to take a stand point and to have an opinion, as opposed to remaining wishy-washy "i don't want to offend anyone" Christians. And I don't want to give the impression that I've got it all figured out. However I do want to say that this whole issue about selecting the sex of an embryo really bothers me, but not for the reason you may think. I'm willing to bet that many people who watched this video were enraged at the inhumanity of favoring one sex over another while they completely missed the fact that they are giving this embryo value based on its sex, while not even recognizing its value based on the fact that it is a human life! If this video were simply about in vitro fertilization I'm not convinced that many people would be very passionate about the embryos that were discarded, but because they are now discarding embryos due to the sex...whoa hold the bus, this is immoral, this is unethical, this is just plain sexist! Excuse my sarcasm, but seriously, since when does the sex of an embryo make it more valuable than what it is...an unborn child.
I completely agree with you. It is scary that humans are now taking "creation" into their own hands. Instead of appreciating the creativity and uniqueness of each individual, society is wanting to form some kind of ideal. It is even worse that a human life is terminated if the ideal is not reached. I have just come back from serving overseas in South Asia. Parents are not even allowed to find out the sex of their baby beforehand to help prevent abortion from occurring.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very scary thing. I took a genetics class as an undergraduate where we were to discuss topics like genetic engineering and whether it was ethical to abort children with genetic mutations, or mental retardation. This though brings it to a whole new level! How is one gender less valuable then the other? you are right, there is nothing more valuable then a human life.
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