Essay: The Ethics Of Saviour Sibling

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In this essay, I am looking at ‘What are the ethics of saviour sibling’. The topic of ‘saviour sibling’ holds a range of positive and negative connotations. I have looked at 3 countries; The United Kingdom, China and Australia. In my chosen countries, a range of opinions on the topic are shared. In China, saviour sibling holds many positives for society and therefore it does not have any legal enforcements behind it. Whereas there is a ban on the procedure in UK and Australia. "Saviour sibling" refers to a child conceived through selective in vitro fertilization as a source of cells or organs for their brother or sister who has a life-threatening medical condition. IVF is then used to ensure that particular genes or characteristics are present or absent, ensuring a direct match for donations of stem cells and organs. [1] The 1st saviour sibling created solely in the UK was in December 2010. Embryo screening, IVF and genetic engineering paired together made the perfect match for their daughter Megan. Megan suffered from Fanconi anaemia. For Megan to make a full recovery she required stem cells. But with no donors were available her parents decided the best option was to have a saviour sibling child. A second child would only have a 1 in 4 chance of being a perfect match, and they could also carry the genotype for Fanconi anaemia. …show more content…

[2] In 2011 Jamie Whittaker was born to help his brother who suffered from DBSA. Jamie admitted that he felt like he wasn’t being born for him but he was born just to help Charlie. Although Jamie never had to donate any organs like many saviour siblings only giving stem cells form the umbilical cord, he never consented to the procedure as he was ‘too young to fully understand’. This makes the procedure very unethical. There’s also the argument of where the line is drawn, at what point does the operation harm the