Who Deserves to be born?
Who Deserves To Be Born
They lost their first child to cystic fibrosis at only eight days old; their second child has the disease and is sickly but making good progress. The documantary tells of their fight for a healthy baby number three. As its title suggests, the programme explores some of the dilemmas faced by families who are deciding how to ensure that birth defects which have blighted the lives of their existing children, don't occur in future births.
"Who deserves to be born" is a documentary that was three years in the making.
The documentary follows the journeys of two couples, both desperate to have a healthy child. Each couple already has one child afflicted with cystic fibrosis, and don't want to bring into the world, another child, with the crippling condition.
Science appeared to offer both couples an answer, the form of a technique called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis - or PGD for short. The technique involves fertilising embryos in the laboratory - and allows scientists to extract single cells from the eight-cell embryos - cells which can be tested to see whether the potential baby will have cystic fibrosis.
Documentary director Rob Harley says the journey both families took to try to have a healthy baby was emotionally very demanding for all concerned. The decisions each couple had to make along the way were very gruelling. "One of the mums compared it to playing God &.You sense the real internal wrestling that's going on right through this programme," says Rob Harley. "One of the couples in particular find their emotions jerked all over the landscape as they make their choices. We are with them right as the vital medical verdicts come in on their progress, and you find yourself getting very caught up in their struggle."
The outcome of the process for both families is - say the
directors - a very unexpected series of surprises.
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