[Timoteo]

(04-16-2012 10:25 AM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

I didn't realise that this couple has kids. I thought it was about another German couple someone mentioned to me, who apparently don't have kids. Are there two of these cases running right now? If they are having kids left and right (four you say) while knowing that some already have major problems they are very irresponsible. They should be dealt with by the law for just being irresponsible. I'm guessing there are no laws in Germany that would allow the state to stop couples from having children where it is inadvisable. So the only way they can get to them is to use the incest law. The case is starting to make more sense.

Of course all this begs the question. When the science of genetics is so advanced that specialists can look at the genetic code of any two people contemplating having children, and give them a full rundown of the exact genetic risks that their possible children might face, would any couple actually want the info? TMI in my opinion. Also, there are numerous racial/ethnic groups in various parts of the world who have a higher than average chance of passing on a genetic disease to their children than the remainder of the population. In North America the ones usualy quoted are Jews with Tay-Sachs and African-Americans with Sickle Cell Aneamia. The problem with allowing the state to step in in extreme cases like incest, is that they are seldom happy only regulating the fringes. Their ambit will likely constantly be expanding and before you know it you have a near fascist situation with the state telling the majority of people who can, and can't, procreate.

The woman I know with the kid with Down's (she's 21 now) knew before she was born, probably from the amniocentisis. They decided to proceed with the pregnancy. She was their first-born, and she was only around 24 when she had her. She had two healthy sons after that. Another college friend had fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, and the boy simply wasn't progressing as quickly as the girl was - he didn't cry, didn't walk, was still in diapers well beyond when he should have been, etc. so they took him in for tests. I don't know if they can diagnose autism in the womb, but there are some diabilities that will either be confirmed visually, and other they can analyze fluids from the womb. However, during the in-vitro process, they can pick and choose the healthiest eggs and sperm to almost insure a healthy child, though there are always factors during development that we can't predict or understand what triggers them or why they happen. For example, with all the advancements in medicine in general, and genetics/human development, we don't know what causes the egg to split creating identical twins. We know they tend to run in families, but we don't know why or what triggers it to happen.

I had other friends that married when both were in their mid-30s (he was 34, she was 35), and I believe they went through genetic counseling. They had to have kids immediately, and they had a healthy boy and girl within three years.