Download Analytical Essay #3 (1)

Analytical Essay #3 (1)
Ben
Kuebel
Ethical Evaluation of ‘Eugenics’ in China
Since the Maternal and Infant Health Care Law went into effect in China in 1994, it has
undergone scrutiny from both the legal and ethical communities. This requirement of a
premarital physical checkup for “genetic diseases of a serious nature”, and an eventual
explanation of “medical advice to both the male and the female who have been diagnosed with
a certain genetic disease of a serious nature that is considered to be inappropriate for
childbearing from a medical point of view” determines that “the two may be married only if
both sides agree to take long-term contraceptive measures or to get the ligation operation for
sterility.” Some consider this practice to be the work of eugenics. Even so, I believe in this
case, the practice to be entirely ethical, and I will prove that this Maternal and Infant Health
Care Law is ethical using the concept of Principlism, and more specifically, it’s moral principle of
beneficence.
Principlism is a widely applied ethical approach based on four fundamental moral
principles. Its creation by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress included the moral principles of
autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. However, on this issue I will solely be
evaluating its ethical validity by applying the specific moral principle of beneficence. By
definition, beneficence is an action that is done for the benefit of others, or more specifically, to
help or remove harms or even to improve the situation of others. Examples of beneficence
include saving a life, giving a starving person food, or even helping someone up after they’ve
fallen. Yet, as this example of Chinese law will prove, not all ethical decisions are that simple.
The Maternal and Infant Health Care Law’s first part is the identification of individuals
with “genetic diseases of a serious nature.” As science will tell you, there’s not exactly a bright,
distinct line in many places. The difficulty is determining what “serious nature” means, and if it
is worth testing for. Much debate has occurred over this, but a conclusion that “Genetic
diseases of a serious nature” refer to “diseases that are caused by genetic factors congenitally,
that may totally or partially deprive the victim of the ability to live independently, that are
highly possible to recur in generations to come and that are medically considered inappropriate
for reproduction” (Maternal and Infant Health care Law). Some diseases under this category
include AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, and leprosy. Those under “relevant mental diseases” include
schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, and still others. If a couple is found to have any of
these categorized diseases, the state will not recognize a desired marriage unless the couple
cooperatively agrees to take long-term contraceptive measures or get a ligation operation,
resulting in sterility. This will significantly decrease the number of disease-affected individuals
within the nation’s population, which is an issue.
1
Analytical Essay #3 (1)
Ben
Kuebel
A stimulated rationalist might ask why this law would even be conjured up. China
suffers from a population crisis, as well as a serious gender disproportion within it. An
estimation is that China’s population will likely reach 1.557 Billion by 2043, forcing it into a zero
population growth-rate thereafter (Population Problems Loom). Because of medical
advancements, individuals will live longer as technology smartens, further adding to the
population mass. According to international standards, genetic studies in China are
underdeveloped because of a lack of funding and expertise, as well as the large number of
people with genetic conditions (Mao, 11). China now follows a “one-child” policy to specify and
hinder the number of children a couple can produce (regardless of financial situation) to limit
economic strain by mass of demand as well as environmental issues like population. The
Maternal and Infant Health Care Law will help limit the number of children born while
decreasing the number of children born with preventable genetic disorders, a cause that is
definitely worth undertaking when issues such as those China is facing are at hand.
The inevitable question regarding the legitimacy of China’s practice is its relation to
other eugenics programs, the most notable being the Holocaust of Germany in during the
second World War. Adolf Hitler’s belief that a supreme race could reign above all others
started in 1933 with the belief that he could, by elimination of individuals without desired
traits, produce a master race by encouraging reproduction among individuals he sought fit to
be included in his company. This “mass extermination” resulted in the death of an estimated
eleven million individuals, including Jews, Gypsies, children, blacks, and other minorities. Other
eugenics programs include those of the United States. First being passed in Indiana in 1907,
large numbers of individuals were being forcibly sterilized, the extent to which vas incredibly
varied because of the presence of the Protestant population in disagreement with the
opposition of the Catholic Church (The Eugenics Movement). Even an American president,
Calvin Coolidge, was a great admirer of the practice. These sterilizations ceased around 1937,
however. The failures of these eugenics programs laid in the lack of education or
understanding of genetics. Many traits are often-multi-factorial, and are often affected by
environmental factors, not easily influenced by selection. This dependence of gene effects
upon environmental factors makes determining “desirable” traits very difficult. In participating
in these practices, these governments restricted individuals’ rights to autonomy and free
choice.
When comparing the Maternal and Infant Health Care Law to those eugenics practices
of the past, I do not find them to be similar in their destiny for failure and misunderstanding.
Because of a more advanced understanding of genetics, we as a human race have the
capabilities to efficiently promote these endeavors. It will also benefit the population of China
by improving the overall health of the population, providing a more consistent mass of workers,
2
Analytical Essay #3 (1)
Ben
Kuebel
a more predictable economy, a more controlled variable in Health Care. This Maternal and
Infant Health Care Law is ethical by the use of the Principalism ethical theory of beneficence.
3