Presidential Commission on Ethics and Genetics
The year is 2018. We now have the ability to test for a wide range of genetic disorders but not yet the ability to cure most of them. PresidentRomneyhasselected you as a member of the Presidential Commission on Ethics and Genetics.
[Note this file was originally created in 2006 using 2010 as the year and Obama as President—EB]
A proposal is introduced to offer financial incentives for people to be genetically tested before they decide to conceive a child. Specifically, anyone who undergoes genetic testing and counseling before having a child and who follows the recommendations of the genetic counselor will receive a child allowance twice that of the normal income tax deduction. The cost of all genetic testing, counseling, and “genetic abortions” will be paid for through public funds. It is estimated that the money saved from treating infants and children with genetic diseases will more than offset the cost of the genetic testing, counseling, and abortions, and will, moreover, in the name of one writer, “improve the human gene pool for future generations.”
Members of your Commission are being asked several questions:
1.Should some proposal of this kind be adopted? Should there also be financial penalties for people who insist on giving birth to children with genetic diseases and who are unable to pay for the expenses the child requires? Should they be required to pay.
2.If not, should financial incentives be offered for people who simply undergo genetic testing andnon-directive counseling?(The counseling would be, as far as possible, aimed only at providing information and leaving the decision up to parents.)
3.If either the original proposal is adopted or if there is no such proposal and parents simply choose genetic counseling for their own reasons,under what conditions should a genetic counselor recommend that a couple not have (or abort) a child?For example if a child is likely to be brain damagedandonly live at most a few years, would that be a good reason to recommend not having the child? Or aborting? What if the child will haveHuntington’s Disease? What if the child will haveDown’s Syndrome?
4.Should we think of parents as having arightto have (or try to have) a biological child or do you think having a biological child should be regarded as a privilege subject to acting in a socially responsible way?