Children's Open Future

I asked a single buddy of mine why he doesn't look for a woman who is like him, someone who undergoes dialysis. His response was an obvious one, that he didn't want to risk children who would have kidney failure like him and his hypothetical wife. It's something I've written briefly about before when discussing PGD.

So, consider the case with most people. A couple gets together and has a baby. This baby is normal and healthy. Easy peasy. Not much to see here. Now, another couple, they have a baby and the baby is born deaf. Not the parents fault. Nobodies fault. Just happens sometimes. But let us ask, if the parents could go back in time so that their baby would never be born, would they do it? It seems wrong for them to say yes. Their love for their child is the same independent of whether he turns out to be deaf. Now, consider a deaf couple. The husband and wife are both deaf, and genetics makes it certain that their child will also be deaf. Is there a problem here? I think most people would end up saying no, there isn't a moral problem, but their circumstances do suck.

Take the last couple, and the first couple. If the first couple, who are perfectly healthy and normal, if they chose for their child to be deaf when he otherwise would have been born normal, are they doing something wrong in making their child deaf? Obviously. So, what precisely is the difference between the first couple and the last couple?

Your answer could decide whether or not you wish you have children under certain circumstances. But generally, you want to provide your children with the most open future possible, that is, you want them to have the most opportunities available to them as possible.