Gattaca and Natal Spectrum Opinions

              Hello world.  In my Gifted and Talented class, my class viewed the movie Gattaca.  Basically, the movie took place in a futuristic world where parents can artificially enhance there children's genes.  The main character, Vincent, was naturally born; so, he was considered inferior due to his randomly selected natural genes.  In order to fulfill his dream to travel through space, he posed as Gerome, an artificial gene selected fellow who was crippled from the waist down.  Vincent made his way as an elite worker at Gattaca spaceport, but a murder within the port caused trouble for Vincent.  Crime investigators were practically crawling around the area, and it put Vincent's false identity at risk.  In the end, Vincent was caught, but allowed to board the rocket.  Gerome killed himself in the end, as well.  Throughout the film, Vincent suffered from emotional abuse from his younger artificial brother, Anton.  As children, they would swim in the ocean and see who could go farther out without turning back.  It was called Chicken, and Anton would always win until they were young adults.  Finally, Vincent beat Anton, but Vincent moved out of his parents' house to where he would then work at the spaceport as a janitor.  Later, he agreed with Gerome to pose as him.  Due to Gerome's crippled legs, he could no longer do anything except help Vincent.  Near the end of the film, Vincent and Anton play chicken one last time.  Vincent won, again.
             Honestly, I enjoyed this movie.  I think the message behind it was you can do anything you put your mind to.  All of the genetically enhanced people had the capabilities to do anything they wanted, but they never had any real dreams.  They were spoiled with being so talented.  Vincent, on the other hand, had a real dream, and he put his mind to his dream.  As a brief example, Vincent finally beat Anton swimming because Vincent put all of his energy into the swim out and did not save any for the return back to shore.  Vincent wanted to win at all costs, but Anton did not.  In addition to this example, Gerome told Vincent that he gave Vincent his body, but Vincent gave him Vincent's dream.  It became Gerome's mission to help Vincent achieve his dream.  Once Vincent had achieved his dream of boarding the rocket, Gerome killed himself.  Gerome no longer had any reason to continue his own life.  His mission was complete, and he had nothing else to do to fulfill himself.  To put this lengthy opinion to an end, this movie emphasized the importance of dreams, and how you can accomplish those dreams from dedication.

              Now! As you, the reader, have probably noticed, the other portion of the title is Natal Spectrum.  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!!!  Well, it deals with bioethical issues involving birth and selection of traits, similiar to Gattaca.  Right now, I am going to list nine bioethical issues in order of controversy from least controversial to most controversial.
1. Natural Reproduction
2. Carrier Testing: Genetic tests of parents that show the risk of passing on genetic disorders
3. Prenatal Testing: Genetic screening of fetus for genes that cause disorders
4. Fertility Drugs: Prescription drugs which increase a woman's chances of becoming pregnant
5. Artificial Insemination: Insertion of sperm into female reproductive tract by syringe in a doctor's office
6. In Vitro Fertilization: Fertilization of sperm and egg in petri dish.  Viable embyros are chosen and inserted into the female reproductive tract via a syringe in a doctor's office
7. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis for Diseases: Fertilization of sperm and egg in a petri dish.  Embryos are screened for a certain genetic disorder.  Those without the defective gene are inserted into the female reproductive tract via a syringe in a doctor's office.
8. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis for Non-deletrious Traits: Fertilization of sperm and egg in a Petri dish.  Embryos are screened for non-deletrious traits ( such as hair color, height, sex ).  Those with desired genes are inserted into the female reproductive tract via a syringe in a doctor's office.
9. Cloning: The creation of an organism that is the exact genetic copy of another.
             Whoa! That stuff seems to get pretty controversial.  Now here are my reasons for why I put them in that particular order.  Natural reproduction is first because without it, humans would cease to exist, period.  Carrier testing is ranked higher than that because carrier testing is not necessary to human existance.  The point is: you can debate about carrier testing, but you cannot debate about not having natural reproduction without sounding insane.  We need natural reproduction.  Carrier testing, itself, is not so contraversial; so, it is next to the least contraversial.  Prenatal testing is ranked higher than that because prenatal testing may lead to an abortion, which is VERY contraversial.  If a parent knows that the child WILL (the "will" is what separates prenatal from carrier testing) have a genetic disorder, the parent may opt for an abortion.  However, I believe that most parents would love their child no matter what; so, an abortion is an unlikely option.  The fact that a parent could opt for an abortion (other than not having a child altogether) is the reason why it is ranked higher than carrier testing.  Furthermore, fertility drugs are ranked 4th because I think the side-effects of the drugs would be much more common than a parent getting an abortion for their child.  Remember, the side effects can take effect on both the parent and the child.  Even more controversial than that would be artificial insemination.  One side could argue that it can give a couple, who cannot reproduce naturally, the chance to experience the miracle of birth.  Another side could easily argue that this way is not the way Nature intended it to be.  Also, this is not some pill; it is a full-blown syringe!  Something can always go wrong during the insemination process, even worse than a fertility drug.  I find that In Vitro fertilization is even more controversial than artificial insemination only because now the doctor is taking both sperm and an egg out of their natural places, which increases the risk of error or hazard.  Alright, I have the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for disease next because it contains all of the risks of the previous method of reproduction in addition to the controversy of whether or not we should control birth.  All I mean by that is "Would you rather control what makes up your child or love him/her no matter what?"  Now, getting rid of genetic disorders is an appealing option to most (if not all) parents, but it boils down to if those parents really love their child (no matter whaat he/she turns out to be) or if that child was a biological success.  Also, rascism can arise.  People with genetic disorders will be bullied based on not only their disorder, but also their wealth.  Most likely, poor families will not be able to afford this diagnosis.  Next, there is the option to choose your child's traits.  Basically, this is what happened in Gattaca.  People who are not genetically superior will be pushed around and denied luxuries such as decent jobs. (Vincent was janitor.  Vincent posing as Gerome was astronaut.)  On the other hand, there are people out there are people out there who would love to choose their child and give them the "superior" genes.  Lastly, cloning is the most controversial issue.  Do not get me going on how much I am against this.  Yet, there are people who are for cloning.  Yes, it may seem "cool" to have a copy of yourself (for the first 10 seconds), but what does cloning really accomplish?  Congratulations, you took away someone's individuality.  What do you even plan on doing with a clone? Put them (against their will) in the army because they are copies? That is SICK!  Clones would be people, too.  All that has really been done is a greater population with less individuality of the people.
            Think I'm done yet with my opinions?  Nope.  Now, I would like to address where we, as humans, should stop at.  I think we should stop at In Vitro fertilization.  This option is only really controversial between the parents.  If they want to have a baby but cannot naturally, they should be able to have a baby.  They could have fine parenting skills; so, the process of actually getting the baby is not that significant.  The risks involved in doing this only apply to the parents.  The Pre-implantation of genes can affect more than just the parents because racism between the natural-born and selected-born will arise.  So, 1 through 6 are O.K. for me to happen, but 7 through 9 disturb me.  Thanks for your time, and I hope this got you thinking about your own philosophy.