Should parents be able to choose the gender and certain chracteristics of their unborn child?

Question

Side note: it's only if they truly want to change certain characteristics.

Think carefully, characteristics can be almost anything...

Answer 1

Honestly, the way these spoiled people are today I would say yes...otherwise they are going to ***** and moan about everything they didn't get in their child.  If people would learn to be happy with what they have, then I would say no.  But for the self esteem of the child and for the child to feel 110% loved and accpted...I say yes.

Answer 2

I would say No because then its like fake. Your child is a product of you and your partner  thats what makes it such a great expierence> If you could choose exactally how it was going to look/act..etc then it would be like you didnt even make it.

Answer 3

No. Having a baby is all about suprises and wanting to know what the future holds for your child.

If I had him perfect in everyway possible, even though I already think he is, life would be boring and he wouldn't be my little Corbin full of his own personality, his own spite, his own smiles and frowns.

Answer 4

Nope!!

God knows what hes doing, and I should not be in any position to change what he already has set for life.

Answer 5

I think...I think they should be able to. It is the choice of whether or not to be able to do so. You don't HAVE to-it's just an open option.

I think that some parents would be much happier if they got the kind of baby they wanted; as in, female or male. Certainly, there should be limitations to the amount of change allowed...otherwise we would be having perfect babies everywhere.

Like some people, there are stress on them to have a male child, to have a heir to the family-think Asians...-and in their culture females are probably less important. Sexist kind of, yes, and if they continue on to choose one gender of a baby then soon there would be a MASS EXTINCTION (on a waaayyyyy higher level),

I do think that most parents would not choose to do so (aren't there parents out there who want the s*x of their baby to be a surprise? Yes.) because they would want their child to be themselves and a part of they and their spouse. Unique.

But there are a lot of ifs. If you had a syndrome and didn't want your child to get it, if you really REALLY needed a boy or a girl (or twins!) or..on a darker note...you hadn't gotten pregnant too willingly and didn't want your kid to remind you too much of the person. Or maybe if you just didn't want your kid to inherit the sky-jump nose you have and had been, teased for. (nothing against those kind of noses..)

Most parents would say NO it's not RIGHT! We should be able to love whatever our child will be!. But it's the option of whether or not you would choose to do so. People are different-what goes for you doesn't necessarily go for others.

Answer 6

No they shouldn't! You should get what the good lord gives you!

Answer 7

No loving parent would do such a thing...I'm sure with something like that in the future there would be great risks of physical distortion or mental retardation.

A child is not an object...it would be unethical to pick and choose which characteristics a child should have.  It would deprive them of their uniqueness.

But now as I think more about the question, I wonder about hereditary deformalities such as an extra thumb or inherited dwarfism.  In that case, most people would think that parents should.  However, there is still a sense of being unethical about it.

I remember some program on t.v. where sons inherited a degenerative disease from one of their parents. alot of times they have kids before they start to suffer from the disease. in such a case, i think parents should have the ability to choose to not have that passed down.

Answer 8

your class should watch gattaca :)

Answer 9

I believe that no one should be allowed to do this. If you are not going to be happy with how god gives you your child you should not be able to have a child if in your eyes they are not how you would want them to be. A parent should love there child not matter what and if you want your child to be a certain way you are already judging there life and making choices that should be made naturally..

Answer 10

i think absolutely not. anyone that is that superficial should not even be having children to begin with. you shouldn't care that much about what your child will look like or what s*x they will be, enough to physically alter it any other way then nature intends it to be.

Answer 11

No... we should not play God... can you imagine a world where everyone gets to pick and choose characteristics of the children they have?  We would be even more of a superficial world that what we already are.

Answer 12

No. Science is too inexact and you might end up with a frog.

Answer 13

Ahhhh, this is a hard one. For simple things like s*x and color of the hair, it's an easy answer for me, no. Then there's things than may/may not be considered a problem, for example down syndrome babies. As it is with early testing and pregnancy terminations these days, a lot of kids with downs don't make it out of the womb and there is debate that downs babies are on the verge of becoming "extinct." Who am I to say that life with down's isn't as fulfilling as life without it and change my child from having it? But, then, what about kids with malformations like serious heart problems, or diseases like spina bifida or worse, something that guarantees your child would suffer horrendously or die young or need multiple surgeries just to survive etc. I know if I was facing having a child with something like that, and there was the ability to change that before they were born, I would want to fix the problem for them. What parent wouldn't want the best possible life for their unborn baby? But, where do you draw the line? Who decides what is best? Who decides what is or isn't a problem? Let's go back to the downs example... Some people would say a baby with downs is a problem while others say its a better life than most experience. Who is the judge? My government? My doctor? Me? I think it's a very fine line and I don't know if I'm comfortable with any of it because that line could very easily be crossed.

Answer 14

It is the way of the future, whether it is right or not is passe. It is like asking if using a car is right or not.

Anyone who can do it, will do it. And they will have a great advantage over all of us who do not.

Having a child has a selfish element to it, and most parents would want the best child possible considering their genetic make-up.

Answer 15

Choosing Gender isn't bad.....they even have a Chinese Lunar calender at the time I didn't use it... but the "prediction" was right... I had a boy..... and now I would like to have a girl....so we're going to try and see if it works.... if not that's fine.... but it never hurts to try.

http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/pred...

http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/cal....

but choosing the characteristics no.....I think that should be a complete surprise!