Should we say that people from families with genetic disorders should not be allowed to have children?

please put your reason(s) why, best arguement gets 10 points

of course they should be able to have children. If someone has love for a child, they take care of them unconditionally, whether they have a disorder or not. If a child feels loved, then who are we to question, or disallow somebody Else's wishes to have children. After all, we're not God, and shouldn't be able to tell people whether they can have children or not on the basis that the child may not fit into society exactly as we please. Picking and choosing who is born and who is not is defiantly not the way forward in my eyes.

They should be allowed. If they have the patience to care for such a family member, then bless their heart. I'm not sure what type of disorder your speaking of, but any person with a disability is a gift of love and humility.

With much regret I have to agree with you.

Good question. I think not. Its everybody's right to have children and who are we to say that they would not have the quality of life.

No we should not say that.

Leave the answer to the family in question it is their human right and not ours to judge..

I don't have a reason why you moron because I don't agree with your premis. The nazis exterminated mentally handicapped people - you belong with them....

no i think s is everyone right as a living orgasmism to reproduce who has the right to say to anyone that they are not allowed children due to something they have no control over that is similar to what the nazi's did as they wanted to eradicate disability where do you draw the line who can say which illnesses people are definate and which ones are not like their is a cancer gene but its not definate that the child will have it

I for one would like to know who would be the person who decides? We cant say who can and who cant have a family, I think that it is best left to nature (or if you are religious, your God) to decided. Everyone, somewhere has something to offer or give, no matter how big or small. Well thats what I think anyway.

Great question, hard to answer!!

ahhhhh - eugenics!

no, no, no. genetic defects are caused by a large number of reasons, not just through inheritance. mutations can be instigated by any number of environmental factors, as well as the natural recombination (mixing up) of genetic material that happens every time a sex cell is created in men and women.

if you limit the movement of genes through populations (by forcing those with what appear to be genetic disorders) you are also creating a bottle-neck in the gene-pool and are by no way limiting the exposure of genetic disorders to the rest of the population (see above).

i guess a good example would be to look at pure-bred dogs. i love labradors - they've been bred to be cute and friendly, but at the cost of their obvious IQ - and they often get ill easily.

Have you seen 'The Boys from the black stuff' or 'Village of the Damned' or read about Hitler's preferred' perfect race'..... The answer would have to be NO!

Just too scary to think about!

That is kind of silly to say that. Genetic disorders can be severe or hardly noticeable at all and if the family is willing to live with the consequences of bringing up a disabled child then it should be entirely their decision. My sister has a genetic disorder but you wouldn't know it to look at her. She has Kartageners syndrome which is a combination of all of her internal organs being on the 'wrong' side of her body and her lungs not working properly, but apart from that she is fully normal.

There are arguments for and against this. In principle people should be allowed the choice whether to have children or not, but in my opinion, if there is a strong chance of the child having birth defects etc then it should not be risked, as it is selfish for parents just to have a child for the sake of it, when that child may not have a full life or a good quality of life, or may suffer because of something that wasn't it's fault.
Also it sounds horrible, but the more children that are born like that, the more it costs the NHS to care for them, when there are other people that are just as deserving of acute care or treatment.
The same could apply to parents who have a child and it has a birth defect, they should not have any more children because of the risk of further problems with the subsequent child or children.
It's not selective breeding we're talking about here, but it's about being sensible and responsible about bringing a child into the world. As a parent you would want your child to be healthy and have the best life possible. I'm not a parent myself but I can see that's what parents would want. If I was told that I was carrying some genetic defect which would cause any child I fathered to have an illness, I wouldn't have the child at all because of the risk.
I suppose other people will think differently.
This is actually a good question and could give way to a healthy debate.

I found out that my mother in law carries a genetic disorder after having two children with her son, luckily my childrens father was cleared of carrying the gene so my kids can not have it passed onto them. I was absolutely furious that I was left in the dark over this after going on to have children, I felt that they had my kids lives in their hands and they were put at risk because of ignorance. You cant play with peoples lives like that, if you have concerns about genetic disorders, you should find out all the facts before deciding that innocent children are born into it.
It was an awful time, the worst day of my life when I was told my children were at risk of carrying a terrible genetic disorder, although I should have had simpathy with my mother in law for having to live with it, I couldnt forgive her until I knew my children were safe...... It's a sad fact, but that is how I felt at the time.

No because they can live a worthwhile life the same as anyone else.

There was a joke doing the rounds on the email i cant remember exactly. But it went something like.

you have the option to kill one child at birth which would you choose.

Child 1 has had several siblings born with physical and mental defects and many have not lived beyond infancy.

Child 2 will invent some of his period of historys most deadly weapons

Child 3 will be a vegetarian who has a talent for painting and becomes an author of a best seller.

Child 1 Mozart

Child 2 Da Vinci

Child 3 Hitler

So people can achieve much through dificaulties look at Stephen Hawking

That's not fair. Just because it runs in the family doesn't mean the child will have it.

All these bleeding heart, mamby-pamby PC answers make me sick. Anyone with an hereditary genetic disorder who is stupid and selfish enough to play russian-roulette to conceive a child is living proof that their blood-line is already one generation too long. For gawd's sake, if they want something to 'lurve' why don't they buy a puppy!!

What if you where born with nothing wrong and a year later your parents have other child born with severe disorders? do the rules apply?

Also genetic disorders do not always manifest themselves until later on in the pregnancy.
A blind couple can have a sighted child, a deaf couple a hearing child or do you feel these are not genetic disorders.

Genetic defects can also not be the fault of the parents they might just be the carrier and the baby gets the gene.

In an ideal world we would have no diseases would could not cure but medicine and medical sciences need more time.

I watched a programme last night which has followed the birth of a girl born without a face the parents love for her was truely remarkable, she is there daughter and they know the pitfalls but are determined to try and give her a normal face through countless operations and more to come, both parents where fine and so was their first daughter.

It is the fear of not understanding that makes people scared and all they want is to eleminate it
There but for the grace of god go I, a true saying and I am not religious.

Instead of prenting it does not exists face up to the fact it can happen to any one.

Find other escape goat and allow people with genetic disorders the right of being a parent because maybe the rouge gene will pass the child.

Ethnic cleansing no everyone has a right to choose or would you like the likes of Hilter to return, blond blue eyed children or if not face the death sentence.

Children do not judge maybe there are lessons we should learn from them, they might be frightened for a second of things that appear different but explain to them and within a few seconds they accept and continue to play as if there is nothing wrong.

You can't stop people with disorders from having families, genetic councilling is a good idea.

Yes, they should be allowed to have children. My friend was just diagnosed with Lupus, this means she is more likely to miscarry and the disease is genetic, but that does not mean her child will have it, but there is a risk. There are also treatments available should the child have Lupus. Should she be punished because of a potential risk that may or may not be fatal?

Let's see, let's look at this hypothetically:

First we start with genetics. We create a body of research and a list of individuals with a disposition for genetic-disorder. Then, we put a governing body in place who will decide who of these people should be sterilised. At first, it seems a fairly good idea because no one wants to see a child suffer from any disorder. So, we close our minds to the fact that there is no way to ensure that the children we prevent from being born actually would have a genetic disorder and we accept that "certain losses" are necessary to achieve our goal...

But wait... What about mental illness? Should, we close the "propagation" doors to people who suffer from chronic depression, ADD, manic depression, etc. and so forth? It might be genetic, so perhaps we should.

And what about the socio-economic factor-- children who would be born into poverty?

One step further...children who are maimed in their early years? Well, they can't live very productive lives now can they?

Oh well, let's just get rid of everyone who doesn't fit our mould of healthy individual.

I know I am taking it to the extreme; but my point is that, once we open the door to allowing fallible humans to play God, we are at serious risk of losing our own humanity.

who is to be the judge of what other humans can and can't do? everyone is entitled to do with their lives as they see fit. whether they have any kind of disorder or not.

No they shouldn't, if they know there's a higher than normal or certain chance that their child is going to have a defect isn't that an act of cruelty in itself. In the natural world selective breeding is paramount. Why has this natural instinct left the human race?
The word GENETIC should answer this, a genetic problem is something that is hereditary. Obviously a child born with a defect that isn't hereditary is going to slip the net, but if it is known beforehand then definitely no. The health service is under enough strain without someone knowingly adding to it.
Why are people banging on about ethnic cleansing when that's something entirely different?
PC brigade are out in full force today.