And another ethical issue about whether or not to have children

Very tough question. Very do you find these question my friend. Never easy to answer. The very question is this that you can't sit back and say that no, I am not going to have that child with the same problem I posses. My thinking is that her mother or father didn't posses that problem, so there is a chance that her children would not carry the same! So, i would take a chance and have babies.

See this is difficult. In this situation she's basically dooming her child to live a lifetime of pain and problems due to this condition. Is it right for her to force another human being to go through that? Personally, I think it's selfishness on the parent's part. All they think about and care about is having a child of their own that they can bring into this world. They're willing to sacrifice the health and happiness of the child for their own happiness. No, I don't think that's right. If they're so hell bent on having a child, they should adopt one that needs a loving home.

I enjoy those medical shows that show families experiencing some radical or rare syndrome. A child is born and found to have this weird condition that is horribly painful, life threatening and requires some form of treatment 24/7. Both parents carry the genes that create this condition and the chances of having another child suffering the same problems are extremely high...they choose to have another child. I think this is wrong and cruel. They now have 2 children that need treatment 24/7. It is the Mum that performs this duty and she cannot split herself in two. Their workload and their expenses have doubled. I can understand unknowingly having a child with a rare and horrible syndrome but I cannot understand having a second child that will more than likely have the same problem as well.

I had friends who were faced with this situation and they had 3 children, 2 out of the 3 were affected and the 1 who wasn't was everything a person would want in a child. To me that was to high a price to pay, but I didn't have to live their lives.

Wow, hot topic in the today's top! Well, Dawn, my first question has to be do you have children? Do you regret them if you do? Do you worry that perhaps you made a mistake? I doubt very much you do or would. I think that is the point of all parents having children. Even with all of our technology for genetic testing, etc there is always a chance that something will occur to our child in development. For our own daughter it was problems with her ears that they never did catch on ultrasound or in testing. We just got done with a very costly surgery and we don't love her any less for it. Perhaps this is not as serious to some as other disorders but to us it was a shock in the delivery room. It wasn't planned, it wasn't known. Even if we had known we'd not have thought "Let's not have children". I will agree with you that it is a personal decision and not anyone else's concern but that of the parent. I'm very glad we've stopped the horrible things we used to do with Down Syndrome babies because of our knowledge. I hope we continue to make strides forward in the area of disorders/disabilities and continue to educate the public on them. Namaste-Anora

Personally, if I had this disease, I still would have kids, I wouldn't care what they have, because there still is a chance for them to not get it.

knowing the risks if i was in her case i wouldnot have chosen to have a child,knowing that the child could suffer for th rest of lives.but as you said,its a personal choice.

I beleive it is her choice and if she wants children and is able to take care of them. I know that is a hard choice but if their is a chance the child wont have her disorder then why not. having children is such a beautiful gift and she shouldn't be deprived because of her diables...

Thats a difficult question, but I think if I knew ahead of time that my children might inherit a condition that would be difficult to live with or that would cause them to have unnecessary surgeries I would have to say no to having children. If, however, during my pregnancy I learned that my child had a condition that would be difficult I wouldn't abort my pregnancy.

It is a personal decision , I agree. Bree Walker was a successful anchor woman. Were people afraid that she would raise another successful handicapped person? ........ If she had a dibilitating disease and suffered horrible physical pain because of it, I could see the criticism.

Well there would be a major difference if the condition was HIV or something similar. But it isn't like she decided to have kids with a deadly disease to pass along to them. Yes, they will have a harder life than other children if they inherit the condition, but at least they will lead a full life. She's a news anchor, so clearly it didn't slow her down much!

It's her choice to make. The average mother would have to make the same choice without as much flaking from the public simply because Bree Walker is a news anchor--a figure in Media--whereas the average mother is not. That's the only difference they have. Let the woman live her own life.

there is no such thing as perfection but to me it depends on the severity of her condition. maybe now there is something that can be done about her condition whereas when she was born there was nothing they could do? it is a hard decision to make but why do people always feel that they need to have a biological child? why don't they consider adoption? there are plenty of children who need parents. is it an ego thing? i had my children young but if i had had a serious condition i think i would have been informed of the chances of passing it on and i might have chosen to not have children. what i have passed on to my children i feel guilty for, addiction tendencies and mental illness. at least it is treatable especially when recognized early.

I think that to have or not to have children has to be decided by each person.As for various genetic and non genetic illnes I wonder if anyone can boast that he´s perfect. We all have our flaws and the miracle is how we can overcome them. My family, as every family in the world, has many genetic issues. Good and bad. We all have a way above average IQ. It doesn´t have any use if you don´t put it to work for a good cause. High pressure runs in the family (should that stop us from having children?) In my country there is a young woman who, while studying medicine, had an accident hand lost both her hands and her legs. She recovered, kept on studying. She cannot be a surgeon, of course. But there are many fields that were open to her and she is a full fledged doctor. And working.

You do like touchy subjects today, don't you? I think it would depend on the condition. My husband has an issue that makes understanding hard but only one of his three children escaped his issue. If we had know before we had them, would it have changed our mind? I don't think so because learning issues can be dealt with. If the condition is one that can not be overcome then I don't think I could do that to my child. If it causes me pain or shortens my life, I don't think it is an ok thing to pass on.

i think that the chinese have the right idea. ONE child per family. the world is so over populated that it can't support the people that are already here. that is one reason that i have chosen to remain childless. the other reason is that i have diabetes, mental health problems, a tendency towards addictions which i have to fight on a daily basis and sometimes loose, and various kinds of cancer and heart problems run through my family. i have no desire to pass these things on to another person. however, i do agree with you. i think that people who are different have as much right to have a child as anyone else. however, i think everyone should stop at one.