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Hereditary Genetic Problems

© Cara Swann

Let me preface this article by saying that I'm in no way advocating people not have children due to passing along genetic disorders or diseases; rather, I am going to discuss this as one of many reasons some of us choose to remain childfree. As with everything in life, we have a decision to make when it comes to knowing our own genetic makeup and what we might pass along to offspring -- the good as well as the bad. From some of the discussions about this issue among the childfree, it seems we do carefully consider any potentially negative genetic tendencies and the consequences to offspring, choosing not to pass this along to another generation.

I know about this from personal experience. When I was in my teens, I began to have symptoms of an underlying metabolism/kidney problem that seemed to have never been experienced by anyone in my family. However, at that time the true condition was not diagnosed; but in my early twenties, it got much worse -- and I ended up having a serious, life-threatening situation when this disorder got out of control. Eventually, after two major surgeries, much testing, etc., I learned that I had a rare condition, but one which is genetic. Basically, it is a recessive trait, and can be seemingly innocently unknown by two carriers until they produce an offspring. And although my condition is now controlled by medication, I went through a traumatic time indeed. I also learned that my children would have a high chance of either having this condition or being a carrier, and passing it along to their children. Fortunately for me, my own diagnosis was of a milder type of this condition; but in some cases, it can be so severe as to cause a person the loss of their kidneys.

Like most childfree people, this did figure into my decision not to reproduce. I didn't want to take the risk of passing along this condition, but of course, I could have tried to adopt if I'd wanted children. However, since I didn't, this was just another reason not to reproduce along with all the others I had already known. Not surprisingly though, this is one explanation for remaining childfree that most people can often understand. And it's true that I could use this reason to create less antagonism for my lifestyle. On the other hand, I don't care for the sympathy factor this will elicit, since I really prefer others know that I made a deliberate choice not to reproduce -- and that my medical condition was merely one aspect of that decision.

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