Summary of the Article
According to Lawrence M. Hinman, postmenopausal pregnancies should not be banned. This means that what matters is not the age of prospective parents but the answer as to whether the parents can meet the child’s needs. Hence, banning postmenopausal pregnancies will deny a chance of parenthood to individuals who are able to meet all the parental responsibilities. It is therefore important for perspective parents to ask themselves whether they are capable and ready to take care of all the needs of the child. It is illogical to prohibit fertility clinics from helping menopausal women to have children.Arceli Keh is a good example of a parent who was helped to have a child at a postmenopausal age. She thinks that what matters is the fact that both parents love their child and given him the care needed (Espejo, 2003).
It is also important to note that postmenopausal pregnancies are associated with ethical and moral issues. Some think that postmenopausal parenting is a selfish act and parents are seen as putting their desires and needs first without considering the well-being of the children that will be produced. This is further seen as a reflection of how the society quest for unending or eternal youth. The other issue is that an extra child means extra network responsibilities with the child at the centre of the network. Some of the key responsibilities include feeding, clothing and providing shelter for the child. Educing the child is also necessary (Espejo, 2003).It is therefore challenging to decide whether Keh and her 60 year old husband did the right thing by bringing their baby-girl to this world. However, the answer still lies of whether the parents and their associated extended parents have the ability to meet all the responsibilities such as protection, nourishment, love and even education. Seeing this issue from the perspective of ability to take responsibilities, one can comfortably say that it is not worthy to ban menopausal pregnancies.
It is therefore clear that what counts is whether the prospective parents have the potential to nurture and meet the child’s needs. A case of parents who are at a risk for recurring incidents of cancer is questionable. These parents may not live for long and provide quality life to their child. Hence, in this case parents may be denied the chance to bring a child into this world. The question as to whether the child’s needs would be met should be asked by both male and female prospective parents (Espejo, 2003). Some people may think that older people are unfit to be parents. Well, there is no literature that proves this point. It is in fact evident that since older parents tend to bring emotional stability and economic tranquility, they can make better parents compared to young people. Hence, such advantages in addition to a blissful enthusiasm that comes along with parenthood may outweigh the demerits associated with anxiety about stamina and health among old parents.The entire society needs to be enlightened on the fact that bringing a child into the world creates binding responsibilities to educate, love, nurture and protect the child. If prospective parents have the capability to meet and take care of the child, there is no need to deny them a chance to bring a baby to this world. Hence, there is no need to ban health care services that aid in menopausal pregnancies.
Reference
Espejo, R. Biomedical ethics (3rd Ed). Greenhaven Press, 2003.
