Psychopaths Should Be Allowed To Make Decisions About Their Future Children

Although not unanimously supported, the use of pre-embryonic diagnosis to screen for disease is generally accepted, this however leads to debate about how much freedom people should be allowed to make decisions about their future children. The issues arise as it is difficult to take an objective view on the topic, with many factors affecting peoples’ views. As there is in fact already a process of natural selection, perhaps it would be best to allow this to progress at its natural rate. On the other hand, if it is possible to allow people to decide elements of their child’s future, then who has the right to stop them from doing so? Can it be reasonable for a group of doctors and politicians to decide the fate of a generation? Especially where health matters are concerned.
Take a situation where one were to ask any parent whether they would want their child to be a psychopath, they would instantly say no, and who could judge them for this choice? No person would want to feel responsible for choosing a child predisposed to violent crimes and antisocial behaviour. However perhaps psychopaths play an integral role in society, with their cold-blooded attitude allowing them to prevail in competitive and stressful environments. As previously mentioned, not all psychopaths go on to commit criminal offences and often hold important roles in many sectors of employment. Policy-makers must determine to what extent we should allow society to benefit from modern medicine and to what extent it is better to allow nature to run its course. As advances in this field are being made rapidly ethical arguments suggest that a socially optimal balance needs to be found between the art of medicine and the spectre of