The Right to a Child Is an Absolute Right. Discuss.

The right to a child is an absolute right. Discuss. (10 marks) – Madeleine Pengelly

Originally rights were seen to come from God, being made by God and being scared gives us rights. Some still hold this view while others now believe our rights com from nature simply because we are human and therefore have a higher intrinsic value than other creatures. However, others argue that our rights come from duties or responsibilities that we gave towards others. The right to a child is certainly not seen as an absolute right when applying to all ethical theories, each either believe it is a natural gift or will weigh up the situation and decide depending on the consequences making it a relative decision and right.
Followers of natural law would tend to focus of the ‘sanctity of life’ that is the gift from God in the form of a child and that any other means is going against God’s plan. There are many different fertility treatments available however; any other means other than natural contraception would be rejected including masturbation to obtain sperm. Natural law followers also support that the preservation of life and the belief that all life has equal status outweighs the attempt at the primary precept of reproduction; this can be applied to IVF in the way that the destruction of embryos goes against these primary precepts. However, it could be argued that the doctrine of double effect could counter the argument seeing the destruction of embryos as an unintended consequence of IVF. Overall, however, Natural Law would reject any means of a right to a child disagreeing with the idea that it is an absolute right.  
However, followers of utilitarianism would weigh up the pleasures and pain of those involved and decide based on the situation and the consequences. They would consider the greatest pleasure for the greatest amount of people involved, possibly concluding that the amount of funding required by IVF would be better spent in life saving operations as it would...