Question

2. Explain these Bioethical Issues ( Minimum of 5 Sentences each)

a. Abortion

b. Euthanasia

c. Female Genital Mutilation

d. Contraception

e. Stem Cell, Cloning and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

f. Organ and Blood Donation

Answer 1

a. Abortion refers to the premature ending of a pregnancy which occurred in itself (known as miscarriage or spontaneous abortion) or by force through surgery or taking medications. The topic of abortion raises intense personal issues about many topics such as morals, religion, sexuality, autonomy, politics, and science and medicine. during the abortion, the central question is focused whether or not unborn children (called fetuses) have moral status and significance. Aside from that, questions regarding parental responsibilities and obligations as well as the issue of personhood arise. although abortion has long been debated in almost all issues in bioethics, there is still no moral consensus achieved.

b. euthanasia - Literally meaning “good death“, euthanasia is the process of intending to end the life an individual tostop his or her pain and suffering. Euthanasia is also loosely called as a mercy-killing, assisted suicide, or doctor-assisted suicide.

While some people believe that euthanasia is just a matter of ending a life painlessly, many people (especially those who support bioethics) believe the otherwise.

In many countries around the globe, the practice of euthanasia is illegal, regardless of the circumstances.

Euthanasia challenges the belief that is concerned with the sanctity and equality of all life forms. Euthanasia is believed to corrupt the practice of medicine as well as undermine the value of suicide prevention.

c. Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. it has no health benefits for girls and women. it can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths. following described some ethical issue

1. Preserve innocent life
It is obvious that FGM does not preserve innocent life - in fact it does the very opposite.
2. Maintain an orderly society
3. Worship God
Whilst many practitioners believe that FGM is what God asks of them, and that it is His will, there is no mention of the procedure in the holy texts of any religion.  
4. Educate children
FGM does not educate children - instead it perpetrates the misogynistic and backwards ideals of a woman's sexuality and place in society, giving them the entirely false idea that the procedure is the 'normal' and 'dutiful' thing to do.
5. Reproduce to continue the human race
As effects of FGM include infertility, complications in childbirth and sometimes death, FGM is doing the very opposite to allowing women to reproduce.

d. The use of contraceptives – the deliberate interference with the natural process of fertility in order to prevent conception - is widespread across the global community. Hormonal contraceptives are considered convenient and effective methods of spacing children – or even not having children at all. Meanwhile, barrier methods of contraception are hailed as the answer to international problems such as AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

e. stem cell - In biology, stems cells are a type of undifferentiated (not mature and undeveloped) cells that can divide and differentiate into specialized cells.The bioethical issue concerning stem cells is pretty much like the issues with cloning. respect for life per se requires that people show respect to all of its forms. Supporters of bioethics believe that stem cell research violates this notion because the source organism (usually an embryo) is destroyed during the process. while stem cell research canalleviate human diseases and suffering, the creation of stem cell lines may lead to the uncontrolled commodification of cells and life.

cloning - Cloning refers to the process of creating a new population of genetically-similar and identical naturally occurring organisms. The usual targets for cloning include bacteria, plants, and animals.

In particular, the bioethical issues regarding cloning focus on the fact that humans become the subject of such experiments. the moral status of the cloned organism, created mainly for destruction and as a source for organs, has become the primary concern in bioethics. Issues such as health risks to both mother and child, damage to the clone, very low success rates even if there are a lot of trials and samples, psychological effect to the clone, and commodification and commercialization of life itself.

GMOs - GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are organisms that have been transplanted with a gene or a DNA sequence of interest from another organism. This process is somewhat similar to the process of eugenics wherein an organism with the best traits is produced. however, unlike eugenics, the process of creating GMOs requires works on the genetic level and is usually done in crops and animals. while the production and use and creation of genetically modified organism are still new, with its long-term impacts on health are still yet to be seen, bioethical issues about it are the same with cloning, stem cell research, and eugenics.

f. organ donation - Despite being almost common, the practice of donating or receiving an organ seem to give rise to ethical issues. Similar to cloning and stem cell research, organ donation have raised numerous moral, societal, and ethical concerns about the use of living people as donors.

the first bioethical issue on organ donation is that there is a big shortage of organs for those who need. There are thousands of people on the waiting list to receive the organ transplants either from living or deceased.

the next bioethical issue on this matter is equal access of organs (aka distributive justice theory) to those who need by the length of waiting time and by their age. According to this theory, the patients who wait for transplant could not move up the waiting list if their poor lifestyle caused the damage to organs (like smoking or substance abuse) over patients who have no control on their diseases.

another biggest ethical issue is that as there is a big demand for organ transplants, there is a fear of illegal organ stealing from livings (human trafficking) without their consent to create organ farming to sell body parts for big prices.

blood donation - bioethical issue on blood donation is that there is a big shortage of blood for those who need. blood transfusion or mixing of blood may be a possible error if blood group or RH factor does not match.

another biggest ethical issue is that as there is a big demand for blood during malaria or dengu pendamic. there is a fear of black marketing of blood at highest prices.