Wednesday, September 22, 2010

What if a more mature couple wishes to have a child but is determined not to have a child with Downs Syndrom? Is discarding embryos with trisomy-21 better than aborting after a diagnosis has been obtained during pregnancy?
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20 comments:

  1. Gloria MOctober 1, 2010 at 2:24 PM

    I think discarding embryos with trisomy-21 is better than aborting after diagnosis has been obtained during pregnancy because during the pregnancy the baby has already started to form into a potential human while an embryo does not have the same potential unless it is implanted. It is more ethical to discard an embryo that is further from being a human life than once the pregnancy has started and is closer to being a human life.

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  2. TanyaOctober 2, 2010 at 9:40 AM

    I think it comes down to personal beliefs. If you believe that discarding an embryo is murder, then it ranks the same as abortion. If you dont believe that embryo's are humans, then obviously abortion is much worse than discarding a bunch of cells. I'm personally leaning towards what Gloria said because I feel that if the embryo is implanted then it's more developed and also the mother sort of forms a bond with the baby because it's devloping inside her whereas she would be more apathetic towards the embtryo.

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  3. lindaOctober 4, 2010 at 5:03 PM

    I also believe that it comes down to personal beliefs. But i do think that discarding an embryo with trisomy 21 is better than taking the risk and then aborting the baby if it does carry the trait. Some say that abortion is like murder, and that it wouldn't be fair to the child if the mother has an abortion, but on the other had, discarding the embryos with trisomy 21 seems like the discarded aren't given a chance to life. This is a very serious ethical/moral issue, and since each indivdual has different morals, it is hard to say what is right and wrong for every situation.

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  4. Emily BectonOctober 5, 2010 at 7:44 PM

    I think that selection of embryos is a very controversial topic. But I do think that in this case if the parents were going to abort the child anyway then they should do it before it's actually fertilized. It's a very touchy subject, but In my opinion it would be better to discard trisomy 21.

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  5. FredelineOctober 7, 2010 at 7:30 PM

    This depends on your position on when life begins, obviously. If you believe life begins at conception, then you would most likely say that discarding embryos with trisomy-21 is more morally justifiable than aborting a fetus or potential life because the conception and pregnancy have begun and the cells have been developping.

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  6. MustafaOctober 8, 2010 at 9:14 AM

    I feel that this approach is better than abortion not to say either are right. I say this because it is better to do it to an embryo than a fetus because an embryo is simply potential life and a fetus is technically living.

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  7. HollyOctober 9, 2010 at 2:32 PM

    I also agree with the statement that this comes down to personal beliefs. It is a very right vs. right issue that people could argue about forever. I personally believe that life starts at conception so both options are not very good ones. If forced to decide, I would say it is better to disregard the embryo because of the risks abortion would create for the mother.

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  8. TawnyOctober 11, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    I think that discarding the trisomy-21 embryo is much better than concieving a child, finding out he/she has downs syndrome, and then aborting. however i think that both ways are a little unethical to some extend. i believe you should let whatever happens happens. and if God decides you can handle a child with that disease then maybe he has a different plan for you than you think. so any messing with embryos in my opinion is wrong.

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  9. kaylaOctober 12, 2010 at 10:39 AM

    As everyone has said before,I do think that this comes down to personal beliefs. Personally I think that discarding the embroy before it is said to have down symdrome is better then aborting later. Overall though, I very much agree with Tawny. I feel like if it is Gods plan for you to have a child with down symdrome then you should. That is also someones life we are talking about that you are taking away. I would feel so gulity just thinking about how that person could have lived but instead I choose to end their life. This is a very hard topic...

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  10. Sarah KOctober 13, 2010 at 9:07 PM

    I totally agree with Kayla and Tawny that life begins at conception and it should be up to God to decide if you're child should have Downs Syndrome. Sort of to go off of that point, in Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who, Horton says, "A persons a person no matter how small". I think that this was Dr. Seuss's way of telling the public that he believed abortion was wrong. While I am aware that this is supposed to be our opinion I just that that was an interesting way of putting it. And anyway I agree with him. Since I believe life begins at conception, then throwing out embryos and abortion are both ethically wrong.

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  11. faithbendelowOctober 14, 2010 at 10:19 AM

    To be honest I don't have huge moral or ethical concerns about discarding Trisomy 21 babies, I just think it's sketchy. It seems like when you decide to have children, you ought to do it out of unconditional love- this meaning that whatever kid you get, you love and nourish it, without the condition of the child having or not having downs syndrome. Maybe if you're not willing to love a child unconditionally, you should reconsider having children. This however, is easy for me to say, as I've never been faced with the possibility of raising a disabled child.



    And Emily, scientifically speaking, isn't the embryo already fertilized even if it isn't yet implanted? I mean you wouldn't know if the embryo has the extra 21 chromosome until the sperm and the egg already met up, right?

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  12. Kerry ROctober 15, 2010 at 4:23 AM

    Sarah, I really liked your connection with Horton Hears a Who! That was great! And I agree with you along with Kayla and Tawny that life begins at conception. I also agree thatit should be up to God to decide if you're child should have Downs Syndrome. Although I believe both are wrong, I think discarding embryos with trisomy-21 brings up a smidge less of an ethical issue than aborting after a diagnosis has been obtained during pregnancy because in an abortion, like Kristen said, the cell have already begun developing and it is more lifelike. In both senerios, however, conception has happened and in my eyes that 'thing' is a child.
    Faith, I really like what you said about when you decide to have a child you are commiting to unconditional love for that child. And I agree that a child should be loved unconditionally regardless of having a disability or not.

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  13. Nicole BOctober 17, 2010 at 9:15 PM

    I think that discarding the trisomy 21 embryos is way better than waiting until the fetus is further along and aborting it. I don't believe embryos are actually living beings so I think that it would be okay to do that. However waiting until it's an actual living being and then aborting it is not ethical in my opinion.

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  14. JackyOctober 18, 2010 at 6:47 PM

    I personally agree with the gist of what everyone else is saying on here. I think that aborting a child merely due to the fact that it has trisomy 21 is unethical. Although not very different, I think that discarding the embryos might be a better option. I think that it'd be a good idea to potentially donate the unwanted embryo to testing or research. If it's not going to be implanted, I'd hate to see it wasted, and this way, it's not technically killed, it's just being used for other uses. I agree with Faith. If you're going to commit to having a child, you should commit to having one and loving it unconditionally regardless of what disabilities it may possess.

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  15. TawnyOctober 18, 2010 at 8:29 PM

    i agree with everyone when they say that discarding the embryos is in a way much better than aborting later on in life but those embryos are still living things and they have the potential to have a full life ahead of them and when a parent just throws that away i think it is wrong cause its ultimately not their decision.

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  16. angel8aOctober 21, 2010 at 9:24 AM

    i think that its thier choice because it is harder to rasie a child with down syndrome and its also benifical for scociety, although i belive a natrual concived child is better because you end up loving it more because you didnt have to chose how it is

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  17. Nicole BOctober 21, 2010 at 4:05 PM

    Yeah I understand that thought process it's just that this couple is really against having a child with down syndrome so if they had found out during the pregnancy it most likely would have been aborted. So in this case it would be better to just discard the embryos.

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  18. AnonymousOctober 21, 2010 at 4:13 PM

    this question will be answered differently according to what each individual believe. I personal believe that it is better to discard embryos with trisomy-21 rather than aborting because either way the child will lose their life, but abortion can also effect the mother, hence it is better to prevent harm on atleast one person. this would be my option if these were the only two choices given. If the child was to live, wouldn't he/she be suffering his/her whole life? it depends on each view... would you want to live a life in which you had down syndrome and suffer your whole life? but then again ... killing isn't right.... everyone should live, even if they are disabled... i guess no real answer existed to this question

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  19. Sarah KOctober 21, 2010 at 8:04 PM

    I'm not saying this is my point of view I'm just going to throw this out there in response to what everyone is saying. Everyone seems to be implying the having a child with Downs Syndrome is a bad thing. Obviously the parents in question don't really want that for their child but maybe having Downs Syndrome isn't the terrible thing everyone is making it out to be. All of the kids with Downs Syndrome I've ever met are really sweet, kind, and friendly. I understand that no one wants their child to have a disability but maybe having a child born with trisomy-21 is better than killing him or her just for the sake of having a "normal" family. Again, it all depends on your point of view.

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  20. Connor "annoying" HughesOctober 24, 2010 at 6:39 PM

    Unconditional love is always wanting the best for your kids regardless of what you have to go through to get it. A child with Down's syndrome is 15 to 20 times more likely to have leukemia, Alzheimer's symptoms will begin developing around the age of 35, 40 to 50% of children with Down's syndrome have congenital heart disease, and only some develop vocal skills thorough enough to hold down a job. The risks and deficiencies towards the overall quality of life are substantial. I know plenty of Down's syndrome children, in fact I sit with one at lunch. The children can be amazingly nice yet the mutation subjects them to alot of difficulties. In the end a parent that really cares about the quality of life for their child will not subject them to suffering such as leukemia or recurring need for heart surgeries. Therefore if the opportunity is presented to not carry the embryo to term it should be taken, so many other embryos are being discarded thoughtlessly, perhaps one of them could be given a reason.

    "Statistics about Down Syndrome - WrongDiagnosis.com." Wrong Diagnosis. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .

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