Genetic Testing

After this week's lecture, I was intrigued about genetic testing. This is a subject I haven’t really been exposed to yet. It presented many questions that I hadn’t heard before like what the pro and cons are. It was fascinating that we have the technology to know this. The question then becomes: do people want to know in advance if they have a chronic disease or not?  This makes for a sticky situation just like the many others we have talked about in class this semester.

At first I was completely for genetic testing. My reasoning was why wouldn’t you want to know if you had a chronic disease? After reading through some case studies that we talked about in class, it became apparent that people change the way they’re living because they know they’re going to pass-away or pass on some genetic disease to their child. I don’t see why people shouldn’t have the right to choose if they want to get tested to know if the child is going to be a healthy baby or not.  I think that it is a person's right to be allow to have this process done. I have trouble knowing where to draw the line though. If the child is severely sick it would be easier to make the choice to abort, but when it comes to a child with Downs Syndrome I am not sure about that. I have a friend who has Downs Syndrome and I couldn’t imagine him not being alive.  I guess I don’t think children should have to suffer their whole life.

Another point is that I don’t think the government should be the ones who should tell people they can or cannot have children. If I were sick with something that could potentially be passed on to my children I don’t think I could take that chance because I would want them to be healthy. But I can’t speak for everyone else on such a personal decision.  

Blog 7

I was quite curious when I found out that we were going to be talking about abortion in class on this past Tuesday. I had always heard many different opinions on pro life vs. pro choice but I had never discussed it in a classroom setting. I was interested to find out what the different peoples’ views were on the topic. I was surprised to find out there were more than just the black and white version of pro-life vs. pro-choice positions.  Some of these varied views including those by Warren, Thompson, and Marques. Each of these views fascinated me and really opened my eyes to different opinions.  I especially thought that the point that Warren made stating that by the 3^rd trimester the “child” has more rights was quite controversial and more extreme than anything I had ever encountered.  

I have varied thoughts on where I stand when it comes to abortion. Under circumstances such as rape, or when pregnancies are endangering the mother, I feel as though it is hard to not allow those people a choice in such situations. Abortion has correlations to our previous topic of passive and active euthanasia.  Both the case-by-case necessity in decision-making as well as the overall controversial nature of the topic is quite similar to abortion issues. Overall, I found this class discussion enthralling and sparked my curiosity to consider different view points on the topic. 

Blog 6

I had a really hard time in our class discussion when we talked about what is ethical or not ethical when it came to PAS, VPE, VAE.  The interesting part about this discussion was that there were so many different opinion. Some were  based personal experiences, while some were religious based. It is fascinating how this discussion struck different points with people. My group couldn’t decide what was right or not. I kept trying to put myself in those people’s shoes and I just couldn’t. Because it is so hard to see where the line would be drawn, it makes it hard to make a law to allow or not allow. All of them are okay in certain situations.  I think every person should have to have counseling first, and there should be specific guidelines that would have to be followed.  Before learning about this in class I think I would have been more against these practices; however after observing the individual people in the video, I now have a hard time saying any or all shouldn’t be allowed.  

            The Betty and George Columbus story had a big effect on me. While I couldn’t see myself wanting to pass away while I was completely healthy, after watching the clip you could tell that it was something they truly wanted.  It was sad how they had to wait so long and it was never possible for them to die in each others arms. 

             I think situationally these three process are acceptable therefore I suppose if I had to state my opinion on the legality, I’d say I was for it. I feel that is it really a personal decision so it is hard to judge unless you’re that person.