The Big Question

Recently I was assigned Assistive Reproductive Technology for a science projective. I've been researching it, and to my surprise, it's actually quite interesting. Some of the articles I've been reading raise interesting ethical questions, like, " Does everyone have the right to have biological children? If they do, should we pay for them to have those children?".  I started thinking about that question a lot, and because I'm me, I veered off topic a little bit. Suddenly the question turned into "What should the government pay for so that its citizens are happy?  Do we as a country have a responsibility for everyone to live a healthy and happy life?"

It would be nice to say that the answer is yes, but as usual, money and politics complicates things. For one, not everyone has the same idea of happiness. To some people happiness might involve everyone who wants an abortion to have one, but to others it might mean an abortion-less world. Also, if the government pays for everyone to receive free assistance with their reproductive issues, we could become entangled in a religious and ethnical issue. 

That said, I still believe that everyone has the right to free healthcare. Healthcare doesn't have to provide coverage for IVF, but it should at least cover yearly doctor's appointments, live-saving surgeries, etc. I understand that the right to free healthcare comes at a cost, however it's a cost that we're already paying for. Despite the fact that America doesn't provide free healthcare for its people, it spends more money than any other country on health care. 

Image courtesy of www.impactlab.net
Poor little fella doesn't understand it either

Think what you want to think, but I'm set in my opinion on this issue. I'm lucky enough that I have really good healthcare, however not everyone is. I don't believe that it is at all fair or right for someone to die because they can't pay for medical care.

Image courtesy of annarose.net.au
Everyone loves cute things

See how cute those penguins look, huddled for warmth, supporting each other? If only society could be like penguins. 

The article that sparked my idea for this post: Penn State: Probing Question