Tag: "genetic testing"

The Silent Repeat of Eugenic History
0

The Silent Repeat of Eugenic History

by

by on Sep 07, 2012 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
Print This Article

This week I read a very disturbing article titled “New prenatal test is bringing eugenics back to Germany” , and I could not help but think of the famous quote from American philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” This month a new prenatal blood test for Down [...]

Does the State Have Your Child’s DNA?
0

Does the State Have Your Child’s DNA?

by

by on Sep 04, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
Print This Article

I hate to be so sensational, but I think it is important for parents to understand that your child’s DNA maybe stored in a state government facility and you have no idea. Impossible, you say? You know that heel stick that your child got in the hospital right after birth?  Some states keep and catalog [...]

The Morality of Testing for Down Syndrome
0

The Morality of Testing for Down Syndrome

by

by on Jul 31, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
Print This Article

A response to the many queries I’ve been receiving about this topic: The technological genie is out of the bottle. We live in the age of Molecular Biology, where diagnostics (including those for Down Syndrome) are becoming much more accurate, sensitive, and inexpensive. It’s a blessed thing to behold. That may come as a surprise [...]

Pre-Existing Prenatal Conditions and Health Care Coverage
0

Pre-Existing Prenatal Conditions and Health Care Coverage

by

by on Jul 17, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Featured, Health & Fitness
Print This Article

Part of the recently upheld Affordable Care Act that many in the disability community applaud is the elimination of policy exclusions for pre-existing conditions. I agree that our culture should not discriminate against and withhold heath care from an individual based on a physical or mental disability. Early Intervention services, exceptional educators, and medical advances [...]

3,500 Ways to Avoid Genetic Imperfection
0

3,500 Ways to Avoid Genetic Imperfection

by

by on Jun 14, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Featured, Reproductive Technology
Print This Article

A recent headline proclaiming the great advances science has made in detecting genetic defects in preborn children sent a chill down my pro-life spine. Proclaiming the incredible news that a day is upon us when scientists will be able to run genetic tests that will identify more than 3,500 genetic irregularities, the reporter echoed a concern raised [...]

US Supreme Court Rejects Gene Patents
0

US Supreme Court Rejects Gene Patents

by

by on Apr 18, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
Print This Article

For 30 years, the U.S. Patent Office has been issuing patents for naturally occurring genes.  About a fourth of our genes are patented by companies who are looking to make a profit off of a molecule we naturally make in our bodies. Objects of nature are not patentable so genes should not be patentable either.  [...]

The Ethics of Genetic Testing: Part 1
0

The Ethics of Genetic Testing: Part 1

by

by on Mar 01, 2012 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
Print This Article

I have found that many Catholics are confused about genetic testing and the ethical issues that surround it.  So I have decided to write a two part series on the ethics of genetic testing. Part 1: Genetic testing is not all bad. Many Catholics are wary of the Human Genome Project (HGP) and genetic testing, [...]

©Heidi Bratton Photography 2011
11

The Importance of Christian Perinatal Hospice

by

by on Feb 27, 2012 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
Print This Article

I do not know what it’s like to lose a child and I hope and pray I never do. All my children, and now grandchildren, are healthy and strong. My family is truly blessed and I try not to forget that fact. There are expectant parents who face the terrible reality that their baby will be [...]

Amelia Rivera with her parents
0

Amelia Rivera, the Disabled and the Sanctity of Life

by

by on Feb 02, 2012 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics, The Shepherd's Voice
Print This Article

Recently, local media covered the story of Amelia Rivera, a young girl with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome reportedly denied a kidney transplant by a local hospital. Amelia’s syndrome results in serious developmental delays, and according to her parents, the hospital declined a transplant due to her diminished mental ability and shortened lifespan. It’s unwise to assume that [...]

Down Syndrome: Toward More Successful Advocacy
0

Down Syndrome: Toward More Successful Advocacy

by and

by and on Dec 21, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
Print This Article

As word spread of a new non-invasive, highly accurate prenatal test for Down syndrome, MaterniT21, the headlines could hardly have been more sensational: The End of Down Syndrome! Will We Cull Those with Down Syndrome? Are Kids with Down Syndrome on the Road to Extinction? This mainstream response seems to suggest a terrible acknowledgment of what happens [...]

World AIDS Day and Down Syndrome: Killing is Not a Cure
1

World AIDS Day and Down Syndrome: Killing is Not a Cure

by

by on Dec 02, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
Print This Article

One of my pet peeves was brought to mind by World AIDS Day. Not that I oppose finding a cure for HIV. I was a social worker when AIDS emerged in the eighties. I helped a young man with HIV who was kicked out of the Greenwich Village loft that he had shared with his [...]

Manic Disdain for Our Fellow Man
0

Manic Disdain for Our Fellow Man

by

by on Nov 30, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
Print This Article

Manic: affected with, relating to, characterized by, or resulting from mania There is no other word that better defines man’s desire to perfect man than the mania that drives so many to eliminate human imperfection by killing human beings. This craving has gripped the very core of those we have come to identify as the [...]