Three Parent Baby Ethical Dilemmas

In the article “Selecting the Perfect Baby: The Ethics of “Embryo Design,” is an article about a married couple, name Larry and June Shannon. They have a daughter, four years old, name Sally, who is diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia. Therefore, the Shannons are getting help from a research team, to find the perfect bone marrow transplant for Sally. The Shannon couple is also interested in having another child and they are aware of the risks and odds of success. However, a PGD process has to be performed and the couple must undergo an IVF procedure more than once, before the implantation is successful, to be able to produce a healthy full-term baby.

Embryonic harvesting and freezing is considered an ethical dilemma and morally unacceptable. Karen Capato reserved sperm for in-vitro fertilization posthumous and reared twins as a result. In this instance, technology was used after the death of a spouse to create life posthumous and the use of such is considered an act of God. “The Bible mentions in its parables that we should not to disrupt a life” (E. Horning, personal communication, January 31, 2013). Manipulating genetics

It is only objectionable if the child is treated simply and entirely as an object. For instance, it would be unacceptable and completely immoral to conceive a donor child and then to just get rid of him or her after his or her role is completed11. However, this is not what is proposed in most cases. Given the evidences on how well the saviour child is treated in most families, it is an implausible claim that they will be treated as commodity rather than a person thus, the commodification argument that was put forward by the prohibitionists fall

This could cause problems later on in the family tree. One wrong move and the baby could have a defect. If that baby ever has a child later on, and the generations keeps going on, this will affect the population. If the process is not done carefully, the embryo might accidentally be terminated.

2 Points To Believe That 3-Parent-Babies Are Not The Way To Go; FDA Comments As Well

The ethical issues with this procedure are not rooted in the utilization of non-human elements to aid the procreative process. So why the moral fuss over the McNamara's method of growing embryos? The heart of the issue was the potential risk to the child. Animal diseases, either known or unknown, can easily be transmitted to humans through xenotransplantation (the use of live animal cells, tissues and organs for transplantation)[9]. There is the potential, both in xenotransplantation and in the utilization of animals in the procreation process, of placing humans at major risk of contracting new types of infectious diseases[10]. Clearly the McNamara’s view and attitude towards creating their offspring may not have been the most ethical way but they would have done absolutely everything to have the one thing they wanted in this world: a child. Do we have a right to have a child at all costs? It should be obvious that our rights must be limited for the sake of others, especially when our own actions would endanger the lives of others[11]. Are there ethical limits to our good, God-given desire to reproduce? There are limits to all our good desires, precisely because these desires are given by God to be coordinated with one another according to His specific design for human beings. When we add to this the fact that our God-given desires are mingled with sinful desires, selfish impulses, and fallen drives, the need for limits becomes even more apparent[12].

The true story of baby boy doe is heartbreaking because looking back almost forty-five years ago medical interventions, procedures and standards have changed tremendously and as such this situation currently taking place under improved practices would have a different outcome.

The article “Three-parent babies: the argument for and against” written by Sarah Knapton states due the fact that the new technique called mitochondrial transfer can modify slightly the genome of next births, many opinions a favor and against of this method have been raised by ethical concerns. One of the argument a favor to the mitochondrial transfer is that it can benefit more than 2,500 mothers and 150 births a year. How the mitochondrial inheritance is through the mother, the transfer of mitochondria prevents of passing abnormal genes to the next generation in order to avoid mortal diseases, and the mitochondrial DNA is not more than 0.054 percentage without the nucleus of the cell. On the other hands, counter-arguments allege that children

These babies have the better advantage to have the selected genes rather than the usually what you see is what you get. Some many not consider them as humans, because the natural way of giving life is certainly not that way. Most chances these humans will appear just like us, but they will remained as something came out of a lab. These humans will then question their “parents or their genome administrators ...why have [they] given birth to[them] in this situation?” (Sadati 75). This could lead to negative feelings on belong and about themselves, leading to a dislike for the mitochondrial transfers methods. It may be viewed as something good for society but we may have forgot these people have feeling and want to try to belong. With results like this, people may view the procedure totally different and be against it when they were formerly for it. We can’t expect how these modified humans will be accepted in society or if they even themselves accept society. Ravitsky, a professor in the Bioethics program in University of Montreal, point out that it still “involves reproduction …[, ] it touches on fundamental concepts related to motherhood, family, genetic relatedness, and identity at an unprecedented level” (57). These humans will be considered of a children from three parents rather than a traditional 2 parent union (Ravitsky 56). With this child having two

Various ethical issues which we see that needed addressing would be the following. The purpose and intent of parties. The agreement is to provide a means for the intended parents to become the parents of a child, which is carried and birthed by the surrogate after the surrogate upon artificially inseminated. Representation and warranties where the intended parents warrant that

My oldest daughter is a freshman in high school and she read situation 1. I asked my daughter what she would do if faced with this situation. Without hesitation, she said she would tell her friend to put the clothing back or she would fire her and report the situation to the owner. She said that stealing is unethical and that her friend that her boss let her hire knows right from wrong. If her friend put the clothes back, she would consider the situation handled and tell her to never do it again or she would be fired. She said her level of trust would be demised but she still would give her another chance because of their friendship. She said that her friend telling her friends stick together would not deter her decision because a true

With two of the objections being, women should not sell thier body for profit and the risks associated with pregnancy are high (Warnock, 1984, p. 427). Surrogacy should not be seen as selling ones body, but helping another couple experience parent hood (Steinbock, 1988, p. 427). Steinbock (1988) uses the example of a stuntman, who performs risky tasks for money, which is their decision to do so, and they enjoy doing it, even though there are risks associated (p. 427). Steinbock (1988) argues some women enjoy pregnancy and find the role a better option compared to their career and view their decision as altruistic, providing a couple with a child, which without the surrogate they may not have achieved (p. 427). Prostitution is an example of selling ones body for money yet this practice continues all around the world. Individuals today sell sperm and donate organs, so why should surrogacy be singled out? (Steinbock, 1988, p. 427). Individuals are in charge of their own bodies and no one should be able to have an opinion as to what they decide to do or not do with their body, regardless of the risks. There are risks associated with anything in life and as long as the surrogate has taken all steps to ensure they are ready for surrogacy and laws and regulations are in place, then surrogacy should be allowed to continue for couples who cannot

Opponents argue that surrogacy is putting a price tag on women and their ability to bear children. They also view it as unfair for the child conceived, more as it is essentially putting a value on the child. They support this with the example shown here, “the decision of one couple to conceive a child to use their bone marrow as a donor for its sibling” (Pyton). Even recently, surrogacy has been an issue with gay marriage being legal. Critics argue that children should be raised by a mother and a father, but often surrogacy is used to help gay couples have children. Also, throughout surrogacy many problems could arise. In fact, 20 percent of embryo fertilizations end in miscarriages (Pyton). There is only a one in five chance of birth with no complications.

A few studies and data have shown us the impact of three person IVF on society: three person IVF is increasing in countries that have legalised it, such as the UK, Netherlands who experienced an increase of 18% and another 13% increase in the following year, and according to The British Medical Journal, 23% of cases of three person IVF are secretly done and illegally. This indicates that three person IVF is affecting others and more countries permitting three person IVF would only worsen the figures, negatively impacting society. There were 5,516 reported cases in 2015, with 208 cases of self-administration and 5,277 cases of doctor administration, which is an overall increase of 4.0% on the 2014

According to “The Ethics of Designer Babies” article, a process called “in vito fertilization” must be done before any genetic changes can be made. In this process, the mother’s mature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and taken to a lab to be combined with sperm outside of the body. They are fertilized in a petri dish. This is the reason why they are sometimes referred to as test tube babies. After fertilization, the embryo is sent back into the mother’s uterus and a “third parent” comes into play. The third parent, or the donor, has his or her mitochondrial DNA inserted into the embryo, a process known as cytoplasmic transfer.