9. Do You Really Want To Know Your Baby’s Genetics?

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2012/09/prenatal_genetic_testing_of_entire_fetal_genome_what_is_a_healthy_baby_anyway_.html

In Harriet A. Washington's article, "Do you really want to know your baby's genetic?", she presents a problem to parents who wish to know more about their child before they are born. Most parents wish that their child are healthy, without any disease. Washington says that scientists are slowly able to see a fetus DNA to see if they have any illness, or seeing the baby's genome blueprint. However, by seeing the child's DNA, it will affect their future. A parent may hesitate to have that child and it may be a disastrous case. Washington gives many examples in when a parent discovers that her child will have Alzheimers and whether the right choice is to abort or let the children live, since the disease only appear later in life or there is a chance of not appearing at all. Another case is a child with Tay-sachs disease, which usually only live to a young age. Washington presents this problem to the reader to be curious on whether it is right or wrong.

Harriet A. Washington's purpose in writing this article is to make parents wonder whether it is right to know about the child's future before it even happened. It is also questioning whether it is right to decide the future of a child which is still in their mother's belly. This article is directed to parents who do not know if it is right or wrong to know their child's genome blueprint. It is an article to make parents think about their choice and to tell them to make the right choice, which is to not decide the children's fate because people will never know what is right or wrong.