Week 3, Purdy Flashcards
What is the Right to Children Argument?
P1. Huntington’s disease causes horrible suffering to its victims.
P2. If Huntington’s disease cause horrible suffering to its victims, then it is immoral for people whose potential children would be at significant risk for the disease to have children.
C. It is immoral for people whose potential children would be at significant risk for the disease to have children.
What are the symptoms of Huntington’s Disease?
Symptoms usually occur between ages 30-50. There are personality changes, involuntary choreic movements, poverty of thought, impairment of attention, walking becomes impossible, swallowing becomes difficult, dementia occurs. Suicide is not uncommon.
What are the odds of someone affected by Huntington’s Disease having children with the disease?
50%
What kinds of genetic testing are available for Huntington’s Disease?
Individuals can find out whether they carry the gene for the disease and do prenatal screening to find out if a fetus has inherited it.
What are the limits of the genetic testing for Huntington’s disease?
A negative test doesn’t guarantee the child won’t have the disease.
What is the general principle that supports Purdy’s second premise?
It is immoral to put someone at risk of experiencing horrible suffering. You should never do something that puts someone at risk for harm.
What are some critiques of the the right to children argument?
Horrible suffering is relative.
Where do we draw the line for things we don’t want our children to have? ADHD? Alzheimers? HIV/AIDS? It’s a slippery slope.
What is an example that supports the general principle in the second premise of the right to children argument?
When you drink and drive you are putting other people at risk for harm, this is immoral.
How does the general principle apply to a potential parent with Huntington’s disease in their family?
A potential parent with Huntington’s disease in their family is putting a future person at unnecessary risk of having the disease by having this child to begin with.
