Case Study: Suppose after trying to get pregnant for many years, it is found that the baby has Down syndrome, and the doctors suggest to abort the fetus. Although with a successful career a balancing it will need to be maintained. However, it is uncomfortable to accept those Abortion Ethical Dilemma Essay Women are the giver of life and with that comes a beautiful bouncy baby. Sometimes with this right an abortion can be a port of it due to various reason. People face ethical dilemmas from the time we are born until we die. Now one knows what they will do in an ethical dilemma until it has presented itself. Depending on how we are raised and what our worldview is will determined in most cases how we will respond. I will examine the abortion ethical dilemma as it relates to the Christion worldview, and compare it to another worldview. Ethical Dilemma This case involves my response to a woman who is pregnant and she was told by her doctor that her baby has Down syndrome. The doctor …show more content…
Atheism has a disbelief in the existence of god or gods. This means that you may be judge by others for your decision but not god (Hiles & Smith 2014). Which is related to Naturalism this means that an embryo is nothing more than a mass of tissue with no inherent value and one can say that a woman who choose abortion over life is considered selfish in the Christian stand point. There could be eternal damnation as some may choose to say to take a life no matter what gestational period it is in as it relates to the Christian worldview, however, if the woman gives birth and it becomes to much for her or the down syndrome is more disability related, what form of life could the baby and the parent have, which will possibly require more care , that type of life does not balance out if you do not have help. And, help can only last for so long. How should Susan respond?
In the scenario regarding making the decision on aborting the child with Down Syndrome is really tough decision to take especially in Susan’s case since she was facing pregnancy difficulties
Susan has being trying for many years to have a child but she couldn’t concide at any other time but the one that God choiced for her. It’s unfortunate that the doctors told her that her baby will be born with down syndrome, however that those not give her the right to distroye something that God has created in his own image. One way she can handle this issues is to pray to God for him to restore the health of child before delivery or she can listen to Richard whom, obvious does not believe in a God and regret her decision forever. This can be a difficult call to make for a non believer, because most of them think of the physical aspect of life, like Richard said it is be to end the misory of both the child and the mother.
There are many people with permanent disability’s that contribute to our society in very useful ways. In most cases, these people are viewed as being courageous. This kind of a reaction is typical but not always honest. There are a lot of people are uncomfortable around those that are considered “less than normal”. In her article The Abortion Debate No One Wants to Have, Patricia Bauer writes about Down’s syndrome and abortion. Bauer is a former reporter and bureau chief for the Washington Post.
Editing the so-called ‘defaults’ in unborn children is similar to playing God and would produce a society akin to one in a dystopian novel. The belief that we are all created equally has always been a part of our morals. Parents should love their children no matter what, including the parents of those with genetic disorders such as down syndrome. Beneath this unconditional love, however, hides the idea that our children would be better off without such conditions. It is within our human nature to strive for perfection, including perfect disorder-less children.
Derek Parfit in “Energy Policy and the Further Future” presents the dilemma of whether or not there is a moral difference between allowing thousands of children to be born with an illness and later cured, or rather never allowing these same children to be born and instead have a “different child” come out of the child bearing process with their health fully intact. In the case in which funding can only be attributed to one of these circumstances, I would support the situation in which doctors performed Preconception Testing. I feel as though this is the most morally acceptable answer because it would prevent a human life from having to endure an unnecessary handicap. Regardless of the fact that children in the first example would eventually
Discovering you are pregnant with a child is supposed to be one of the best days of your life, but finding out your baby has the one extra 21st chromosome could change everything. Author and national correspondent for the New York Times, Amy Harmon, fights for children and families affected by the disease in her article, “Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus.” Harmon recognizes in her article that raising a child with this disease is not easy. She provides evidence of this by including quotes and personal stories from parents and family members whose loved ones are affected by it. She illustrates a genuine passion for the growing number of parents that are “Convinced that more couples would chose to continue the pregnancies if they better appreciated what it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome”(Harmon). To better put it in perspective, an estimated 90% of women chose to have an abortion if they are given a positive diagnosis for Down syndrome.
After trying for many years, Susan finally gets pregnant. Unfortunately, a blood test confirms that her baby has Down syndrome, and her doctors suggest she abort the fetus. Susan has a successful career and wants to maintain a healthy balance between her career and family. Yet she feels very uncomfortable with abortion. She seeks some advice from Richard, an influential professor of evolutionary biology who has spent his career seeking to further human potential and minimize human suffering. When Susan asks Richard if she should abort the fetus or give birth to a baby with Down syndrome, Richard replied that human beings should increase happiness and decrease suffering in this world, and that therefore he would suggest that she abort, though he also stated that she must make this choice for herself. Richard emphasized the lifelong suffering of both the child with Down syndrome and Susan as the child’s caretaker and stated that it may be immoral to bring a baby into the world if she knew the kind of suffering the child would experience. In fact, Richard suggested that perhaps the most ethical course of action would be to prevent this baby from living a life full of suffering. (This scenario is based on the following article by Richard Dawkins (2014): https://richarddawkins.net/2014/08/abortion-down-syndrome-an-apology-for-letting-slip-the-dogs-of-twitterwar/). How should Susan respond? What decision should she make if her baby would suffer with Down syndrome, yet
Another huge controversy in abortion is whether it is right to abort a fetus whom possess a birth defect or severe and life threatening medical conditions. For example, in the case of Dana Weinstein who made the decision to abort when she found out that her baby suffered from multiple malformations of the brain. If she would have not aborted the baby, her child would have faced many struggles in the world including “intellectual and physical disabilities along with seizures that are difficult or hard to control with medication “(Kate Sheppard) .Dana was faced with the odds of giving birth to a child whom would suffer their whole life from constant seizures and depending on feeding tubes to stay alive. We cannot
While wrongful birth does not just represent children with down syndrome it represents all kinds of birth problems children are born with. A couple won a $4.5 million in a lawsuit for wrongful birth. The parents claimed “They would have never brought their son Bryan into the world if they had known about his horrific disabilities” (Hallowell, 2011). The parents son was born with only three limbs, no arms and one leg; however, if Dr. Marie Morel and technicians at OB/GYN specialists of the Palm Beaches did properly administered two ultrasounds and seen he was missing three limbs the parents would have terminated the pregnancy (Howell, 2011). The parents “understandably upset that they had no warning about the
“When families get a diagnosis prenatally, they use the words ‘shock’, ‘sadness’, ‘disbelief’”, says Sarah Cullen of the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. “ You feel like like the rug is pulled out from under you. You feel very heavy. You feel very, very alone” (Szabo 1). When parents receive the results of their prenatal test, many do not know what to do. They can feel very overwhelmed, because their baby is unhealthy and there may be nothing that they can do about it. Often the doctor does not know what to do either, because there may not be a cure for the disease.This kind of news alone is agonizing for parents. Mothers should not have genetic testing done to see if their baby has diseases because it causes unnecessary anxiety for the parents, tests may not always be accurate, and it is unethical.
He notes that one in six-hundred children are born with down-syndrome each year. Thus, it is a prevalent disease. However, Nichols says that when parents are faced with a child who has down-syndrome and some other congenital defect - they sometimes, along with doctors, decide to forego treatment and let the child pass. Nichols argues that letting a baby dehydrate and wither is much more cruel than an almost instantaneous lethal injection and, therefore, that the AMA policy promotes needless suffering.
I will first explore what medical ethics entails, then evaluate whether prenatal screening is necessary and whether it is discriminatory as claimed. Based on the benefits, success, statistical data, I will defend the perspective of physically challenged individuals by highlighting numerous success records of families with children affected from Down’s syndrome as it is widely common.
To respond appropriately to the most ethically relevant factors we will discuss the justifiable possible actions to consider. There were many different things we recommend in responding to this case in an ethical fashion. The first recommendation is to see the case out to the supreme court in support of Peggy. Referring to the Davis v. Davis Case () in 2004, we use the structure used for determining the fate of the embryos in that case and apply it to our case. The court created a hierarchical structure for disposition of the embryos. It follows three steps: first, the preferences of the genetic parents are considered; second, a prior agreement; and third, weighing the interests of the parties. Since the preference of the genetic parents
Determining what is considered an appropriate plan of care for a patient has always been an area that has taken on large ethical consideration, especially when the patient does not see eye-to-eye with health professionals in the suggested direction of care. Having a congenital disorder resulting in intellectual and developmental delays has the ability to impact the way an individual may process information. Once this part of an individual’s mental capacity is impaired, it may significantly influence the extent to which this person is able to make rational decisions, especially if they are not aware of the potential consequences of their actions. Taking a paternalistic perspective, and choosing to intervene through abortion and sterilization is the proper solution, as it will likely result in more good for Kelly in the long run, than it will if is allowed to continue with the pregnancy, and raise the child.
Finally, learning that a new born baby has down syndrome is not easy to face, the parents will face and experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. While handles the diagnosis of a child with a disability. Some parents will experience fear and concerns. It is natural to experience denial, anger, depression, and other stages of grief as adjust the news that the baby has Down syndrome. Most importantly, there are many sources of support available for the new