WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT:
Students are to write a 3-5 page summary paper on the ethical controversy. Students are to research, analyze, and answer the questions for the ethical controversy in a research paper format.
Instructions for preparing the research paper:
The paper should be submitted via Moodle in MS Word. You are expected to cite a minimum of three (5) references per controversy excluding the textbook for this paper utilizing APA format (Refer to APA Publication Manual and sample paper listed under "Course Information and Resources" on Moodle Course Homepage).
No title page, table of contents or abstract is needed for this assignment. Simply put your identifying information in the upper right hand corner of the first page.
Remember this is a 3-5 page paper not including the reference page.
• Standard paper size (8 1/2 x 11 paper)
• 12-pt. Times New Roman font
• Double spaced
• 1 inch margins on top, bottom, right, and left
• Indent all paragraphs 5-7 spaces or 'A inch
• Page numbers in upper right hand corner of page, use Arabic numerals
• Reference in-text using appropriate APA style and include references at the end of the Paper using APA format.
• When citing internet resources, only web sites that end in ".edu", ".org", or ".gov" will be accepted as references. Also, Wikipedia will NOT be accepted as a reference.
• DO NOT write in first person.
PRESENTATION:
• Ethical Controversy Research Presentation: Students will work in groups. Each group will be assigned an ethical controversy based on class discussions The groups will be required to analyze the ethical controversy, write a summary, in APA format, and make a presentation using either Power Point or Prezi.
DESIGNER BABIES/SAVIOR SIBLINGS
Most of us know families where all the children are of the same sex, either boys or girls. In at least some of these cases, the parents often wish for at least one more child of the other sex.
They desire this, not because they do not like or appreciate the children they already have, but because their hopes and dreams of parenthood often involve having a child of the other sex. A father may dream of teaching a son sports or being the father of the bride, a mother may look forward to sharing in her daughter's journey into womanhood or her son's carrying on of the family name.
Until recently, these desires would remain unfulfilled unless they were lucky. Now physicians have available a technique called PGD (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), which allows physicians to screen embryos for a wide range of possible diseases as well as for gender.
Suitable embryos can then be implanted, while the future parents may decide not to implant other embryos. These other embryos, depending on the reasons why they were rejected, may be destroyed or given to other infertile couples, where they will be implanted in the woman and (hopefully) brought to term.
THE QUESTIONS:
1. Do you think it is ethical to design and conceive a child that meets specific genetic requirements?
• If so, is PGD ethical in all cases? (prevent miscarriages, prevent inheritable genetic diseases, sex selection for social reasons, etc.)
• If not, do you believe there should be specific exceptions - such as saving another person's life - or is this just a "slippery slope"?
2. Knowing what you now know about PGD, do you agree with any parents' choice to "design" one child to save another?
• Is it ethically okay to screen embryos for desired genetic traits, and reject the "undesired" embryos?
What are some ethical issues related to the use of IVF? What are some ethical issues related to the use of PGD? What do you think about those issues?