Human Growth and Development Essay Paper

In the United States, most state health departments require screening for genetic disorders in newborns. Some states go so far as to require pre-marriage genetic testing, where they examine the potential parents for risk of genetic disorders in their offspring. It\’s worth noting, however, that some states allow for exemptions from testing based on religious convictions or other established reasons.
State whether or not you believe it\’s appropriate for states to require pre-marriage genetic testing. Explain your reasoning and support your position with credible resources.

Human Growth and Development

Pre-marriage genetic testing is a carrier test that is increasingly being demanded by states in order to control for conditions such as sickle cell anemia, phenylketonuria, Down’s syndrome, breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Huntington’s disease. As a carrier test it is used to determine whether the individuals seeking to get married have a certain genetic trait that could be passed on to the offspring. Every individual has genetic trait that consist of two chromosomes with each chromosome inherited from the father and mother. Human Growth and Development Essay Paper If a genetic disorder linked to the genetic trait is dominant, then the offspring will express the disorder if he/she inherits one abnormal chromosome. If the genetic disorder is linked to a recessive genetic trait, then the offspring will express the disorder if he/she inherits two abnormal genes from both parents (Barrett et al., 2016).

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Although pre-marriage genetic testing has health value for determining the probability of offspring expressing genetic diseases, it is not appropriate for states to require these tests. That is because they have ethical and moral implications with regards to reducing individual rights to privacy and presenting opportunities for genetic discrimination. Since the test is targeted at persons intending to get married, then the implication is that unfavorable results would act as a “roadblock” to the marriage thereby limiting their individual rights. In addition, it would limit their interests to have children as they fear the children developing the genetic diseases. Besides that, it would lead to discrimination in insurance coverage. Insurers could use the information to either increase premiums, decrease benefits, or refuse health care coverage. Also, there are real fears that the children could be discriminated against. Genetic information is private and directly linked to the identity of an individual (Hostuic, 2018). As such, it is not appropriate for states to require pre-marriage genetic testing.

References

Barrett, D., Ortmann, L., Dawson, A., Saenz, C., Reis, A., & Bolan, G. (eds) (2016). Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe. New York, NY: Springer.

Hostiuc, S. (ed) (2018). Clinical Ethics at the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies. New York, NY: Elsevier Science.  Human Growth and Development Essay Paper