Do you think people with genetic mental disabilities should have children?

i know it sounds harsh but no. i have a co worker who not only had a child late in life but also passed her citracal down to the child. she is sick probable 5 months of every year. its not fair to the child.

Regardless of what seems appropriate in theory, eugenics has never had a good result.

There's the arguments about rights and privacy. Those are obvious, so I'm sure you've already considered and rejected them. The real sticking point is this: we don't know enough to decide who should procreate and whose genes should be thrown out. Evolution says detrimental genes should die out - but it also says a diverse population has the best chance of survival.

Where would you draw the line between serious disabilities and those whose risk is acceptable? Or would you outlaw all of them, in which case, how would you define a mental disability (the previous respondant appears to include atheism)? Why only the mental illnesses - why not sterilize everyone who has a family history of cancer?

I will point out that seriously mentally-compromised people, like children, are not legally capable of giving consent to sex. So any procreation they do had better be before the disability manifests.

I think this is pretty close to the idea of eugenics. Would you terminate a pregnancy because the baby was going to have brown hair instead of blonde? Lots of genetic abnormalities are unforeseen and have little to no bearing on whether the parents have a disability. What about people who have cancer, high blood pressure, Alzheimer's running in their families? The question should be will the parents be able to love and provide for the child. Otherwise, hands off.

I think it's up to the parents. If they don't mind and really want to give birth to their own child then why should it matter to anyone else?

The kid just needs love.

If they have had a hard time their whole life and the disability is very hard to live with then it may be unfair to the child in that case.

But, I actually have a genetic physical disability. My parents didn't know they were carriers ( so this is different) .

if you mean like bi-polar, depression...etc...no.

if you mean things like down syndrome, aspergers...why not?

No.