Transmitting genetic disorders to children

[epan]

Is it morally permissible to have children if one has a genetic disorder that is highly transmissible, such as Huntington’s disease?

Look at it another way. Should every family with the potential of passing on a genetic disorder stop producing children, and let the family end in one final generation? My answer is no.

 

[mommamaree]

Yes, it is morally permissible. There is no checklist we must follow in order to decide who fit parents are. We are all called to be saints, and for those who are also called to the vocation of marriage, we are also called to parenthood, should God decide to bless us with children. Physical perfection has little to no bearing on the morality of these choices.

But then, I am quite biased. My husband and my half-brother both have Tourette’s. My husband also has OCD. He is a loving, devoted husband and father. His kids adore him. So far, we have no sign that any of our kids have inherited Tourette’s, but that could change at any moment. But, thank God, we do not have to remain childless simply because of an inheritable genetic disorder. Think of all the joy we would be missing out on if we let fear control our choices. Instead we are happily growing our family, and just being watchful for signs of the disorder. If one of our kids inherits it…well, we would probably be sad momentarily, because there will be extra challenges for that child, but obviously people born with genetic disorders go on to have joy-filled lives and are thankful for being given life!

 

[Melissa]

Seeing as they define “user failure” as

it seems pretty clear that they did not make this important distinction.

Here is where I am getting my info, in case you are curious.

From Taking Charge of Your Fertility, a very well received book now available in its 10th anniversary addition, written by a nationally respected, secular, ABC approving, Women’s Health educator and speaker, Toni Weschler:

Emphasis is authors.

It seems pretty clear that the accepted average user failure rate is much lower than that claimed by this one survey, and that even with the lower accepted user failure rate much of it is on account of people’s intentional decisions to not follow the method. Since this book is from someone who has nothing against contraception as such, even suggesting using the barrier method during fertile periods, its pretty clear she’s not just twisting or ignoring data from some anti-ABC bias. Also, if this claim she is making about the effectiveness of this method were false, I think someone would have pointed it out to her and forced her to fix it after 10 years of publication.

Not to mention, that that study’s “user failure rate” seems to ignore the fact that some people use NFP to intentionally achieve pregnancy (and NFP stands alone as a means of both avoiding or achieving the same goal).

I know for myself, when I first started using NFP, I got pregnant the first month because I knew I was in the fertile phase and we went ahead anyway. That was my fourth pregnancy, and at the time, I had only one living child. I lost that pregnancy very early (6.5 weeks) and went in for a RhoGAM shot. The NP who came in to treat me very cruelly said (and I’ve never forgotten this) “You should use a more effective method because you can’t rely on miscarriages.” I was in a white hot fury and I really let her have it and let her know (along with anyone else in ear shot, which included the waiting room) that I had lost a baby I had wanted. She was taken out of the room and a different NP administered my shot. I subsequently got pregnant again a few weeks later with a happier result (middle son).

I have been surprised by one baby while using NFP, but I think anyone would be when the ultrasound reveals Baby B. (No fertility drugs, no family history, just spontaneous fraternal twins.)