Essay - Family Planning - Personal Choices Family Planning: Personal Choices in...

Family Planning - Personal Choices

***** *****: Personal Choices

***** her essay, "Freeing Choices," Nancy Mairs discusses the personal choices in family planning, which significant advances in ***** field of medical technology and genetics are now likely to make possible. Prior ***** the advent ***** ultrasounds and amniocentesis, it was not ***** for would-be-parents to learn the sex of their unborn child. Indeed, other than practicing family planning to prevent the creation of new life, families had little choice but to accept the ***** born, irrespective of the ***** or ***** hopes for a son or daughter. Today, however, it is possible to use "amniocentesis to determine ***** sex of a fetus, followed by abortion if the parents don't want the sort they've begun." (*****, p. 435) Thus, modern ***** and knowledge have now made a greater degree of *****ersonal choice ***** in family planning. It is this central fact that explains the reason why Mairs has t*****led her essay as "Freeing *****."

***** builds a strong c*****se for defending the rights of d*****ferently abled Americans, principally ***** inviting the reader ***** visualize several hypothetical situations entailing a decision to *****bort a new life. For instance, she conjectures a situation where many people might well consider abortion if they were *****ld that their ***** would be born with a genetic defect, ***** causes visual impairment. Mairs technique in drawing these hypothetical situations is brilliant since she takes the trouble to first sympathize with ***** plight of such parents in being asked to make such a d*****ficult choice. She achieves this through displaying a deep ***** and underst*****ing of the quality of ***** and problems ***** the parents of ***** disabled children are likely ***** face. However, in each *****, ***** immediately follows through by pointing out ***** basic right ***** differently abled people to life: "But these ***** otherwise ideal children...going ***** become terrific adults. The problem is that if you eliminate one flaw, you throw ***** the whole complicated creature, and my world would be a poorer place without Michael and Megan." (Mairs, p. 437) *****, ***** critically examining both the pros ***** cons of such dec*****ions, Mairs succeeds in presenting an effective, well-rounded argument in ***** the ***** ***** differently abled people.

Mairs efforts to defend the rights of less advantaged people are particularly to be admired ********** the various forms of prejudice that continue to exist in American society *****day. Take, for instance, Mairs observation ***** we continue to ***** a patriarchal *****: "What they generally *****, as parents have done from time immemorial, is a boy." (Mairs, p. 435) Other forms ***** prejudices such as rac*****m persist as *****ll, although ***** may not be ***** apparent as it once ***** given social disapproval of blatant forms ***** racist *****havior. Society ***** not approve ***** the ***** remains that racial prejudices continue ***** exist, albe***** in subtler forms. For example, I have personally observed the alienation suffered by students who come from different cultural backgrounds or min*****ity